High incidence of common bile duct dilatation in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease patients.

Two autosomal dominant kidney disease (ADPKD) patients with cholecystitis or communicating extrahepatic dilatation of the common bile duct accompanied by tiny common bile duct stones prompted us to examine the incidence of gall stone disease and dilatation of the common bile duct in ADPKD patients. Computed tomography scans were examined retrospectively in 55 ADPKD patients and 55 age-, gender-, and duration of dialysis-matched non-ADPKD patients. The incidence of calcium-containing gall stones found on tomography scans was the same: eight of the 55 ADPKD patients and nine of the 55 non-ADPKD patients. However, common bile duct dilatation, defined as measuring more than 7 mm in diameter at the pancreatic head on CT scans, was found more frequently in the ADPKD patients (22 patients; 40.0%) than in the non-ADPKD patients (5 patients; 9.1%) (P = 0.0002). These results suggest that the high incidence of intrapancreatic common bile duct dilatation in ADPKD is a previously undescribed sign of extracellular matrix remodeling in ADPKD.