Postcholecystectomy bile duct dilatation: myth or reality?

Postcholecystectomy dilatation of the common duct has been a matter of controversy in the surgical, radiographic, and sonographic literature. In this study, 40 patients who had biliary sonography before cholecystectomy and were asymptomatic 6 months or more after surgery were returned for sonography of the biliary ducts. Of these, 38/40 showed no evidence of postcholecystectomy dilatation of the common duct. There was diminution of the common duct in one and enlargement in another patient. One patient had a duct that was dilated before surgery and remained the same size after surgery. It is concluded that postcholecystectomy dilatation of the common bile duct does not occur in most normal patients.