Hemobilia complicating elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy: a case report.

Iatrogenic injury to the hepatic or cystic arteries can occur during laparoscopic cholecystectomy and can be seen in isolation or in association with bile-duct injury. The most common manifestation of arterial injury is intraoperative hemorrhage; also, interruption of the right hepatic artery can occur without hemorrhage, and this can be clinically insignificant or associated with hepatic ischemia. A less common manifestation of arterial injury during laparoscopic cholecystectomy is presented. A 48-year-old woman had a pseudoaneurysm of the major anterior branch of the right hepatic artery in association with an injury to the common hepatic duct. This complication presented as massive hemobilia after she had been discharged from the hospital. Definitive repair of the pseudoaneurysm was carried out at the time of Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy for correction of the associated duct injury. This unusual vascular complication should be considered in patients after laparoscopic cholecystectomy who demonstrate evidence of late occult or obvious hemorrhage.