extrahepatic bile ducts

Extrahepatic bile ducts.

Type IVb: Multiple dilatations involving only the extrahepatic bile ducts.

Henson DE, Albores-Saavedra J, Corle D: Carcinoma of the extrahepatic bile ducts.

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a chronic cholestatic liver disease that is characterised by inflammation and fibrosis of both intra- and extrahepatic bile ducts.

Support for patients or family members of patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis, a chronic cholestatic liver disease characterized by periductal inflammation of both intrahepatic and extrahepatic bile ducts.

Shin HS, Seong J, Kim WC, et al.: Combination of external beam irradiation and high-dose-rate intraluminal brachytherapy for inoperable carcinoma of the extrahepatic bile ducts.

Primary sclerosing cholangitis is a chronic inflammatory disorder which results in fibrosis and obliteration of the intrahepatic and/or extrahepatic bile ducts leading to the typical radiological appearance of stricturing and beading of the biliary tree.

To some extent, the symptoms depend upon the location of the tumor: patients with cholangiocarcinoma in the extrahepatic bile ducts (outside the liver) are more likely to have jaundice, while those with tumors of the bile ducts within the liver more often have pain without jaundice.

The diagnosis is by imaging of the bile duct, usually in the setting of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP, endoscopy of the bile duct and pancreas), which shows "beading" (both strictures and dilation) of the intrahepatic and extrahepatic bile ducts.