BACKGROUND Cholecystectomy is made hazardous by distortion of the anatomy of Calot's triangle by acute or chronic inflammation. Laparoscopic subtotal cholecystectomy (LSTC) without cystic duct ligation is an alternative to conversion to open surgery in difficult cases. METHODS This prospective study included all cholecystectomies performed in a district general hospital upper gastrointestinal...

Background: Free radicals are involved in pathophysiology directly and indirectly in sepsis or endotoxemia. Obstructive jaundice may promote bacterial overgrowth with resultant endotoxemia or sepsis. The purposes of the studies are to test the protective effect of free radical scavenger in obstructive jaundice. Materials and methods: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized to three groups. Gro...

Mongrel or beagle dogs were submitted to bile duct ligation, or to extraenteric biliary diversion by means of choledochoureterostomy. The kinetics of intravenously administered FK506 was not changed from control status two weeks after bile duct ligation, but the bioavailability of orally administered FK506 was nearly quadrupled. Following oral administration, the absorption of FK506 was highly ...

The role of reactive oxygen species in liver fibrogenesis is not yet clarified [11]. Huang et al. [13] showed a progressive increase in plasma malondialdehyde, hepatic 8-hydroxy-2’-deoxyguanosine, hepatic mitochondrial respiratory functions and procollagen I and III or transforming growth factor1 mRNA expression in rats rendered cirrhotic by bile duct ligation. There is also a progressive impai...

1. Vitamin D deficiency was induced in anicteric Wistar rats, Wistar rats before common bile-duct ligation was performed and Gunn rats with unconjugated hyperbilirubinaemia. 2. The effect of ultraviolet radiation on plasma concentrations of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D was studied in a group of control anicteric Wistar rats (n = 11), Wistar rats 8 days after common bile-duct ligation (n = 7) with conju...

The intrinsic factor (IF)-cobalamin (Cbl) receptor activity in the mucosal homogenates progressively decreased after bile duct ligation in the rat, and 80% of the receptor activity was decreased in 96 h after ligation. The activity was restored to normal values of 5.5-6 pmol of IF-[57Co]Cbl bound/g mucosa when the assays were performed with both conjugated and unconjugated bile acids. When [57C...

The standard double-isotope Schilling test was used to study vitamin B12 absorption in seven patients with obstructive jaundice and 10 with T-tube bile duct drainage after cholecystectomy and bile duct exploration. In three and five of these patients respectively absorption was impaired. In the second group six patients were restudied after removal of the T tube, and in each case absorption was...

BACKGROUND We have previously demonstrated that enteral exclusion augments pancreatic p38 mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase activation and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) production after bile-pancreatic duct ligation in rats. METHODS In the present study, we evaluated c-Jun NH(2)-terminal kinase (JNK) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) activation, and cytokine produ...

We examined how total blockage of biliary excretion, the major pathway through which cholesterol and bile acids are removed from the body, affects liver function, cholesterol and bile acid metabolism and homoeostasis. After 4 weeks of bile-duct ligation, rats showed impaired liver function, as documented by elevations in serum bilirubin and alkaline phosphatase activity. Moreover, bile-duct lig...