Gallbladder and Bile Duct Disorders

Gallbladder and bile duct disorders encompass a range of conditions—from gallstone obstruction and acute cholecystitis to bile duct injury and cholangiocarcinoma—that can escalate quickly into life-threatening emergencies if not accurately diagnosed and treated. Procedures such as endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and endoscopic ultrasound have transformed management by allowing clinicians to visualize, sample, and drain the biliary system without open surgery, while frameworks like the Tokyo Guidelines have helped standardize decisions around when and how aggressively to intervene. Active research questions center on refining early diagnostic criteria to distinguish, for example, benign strictures from malignancy, and on determining the optimal timing and technique for biliary drainage in patients with concurrent pancreatitis or sepsis. Longer-term challenges include improving outcomes for cholangiocarcinoma, which remains difficult to detect at a resectable stage, and reducing the rate of iatrogenic bile duct injuries that can follow both laparoscopic cholecystectomy and endoscopic procedures.

Works

109,424

Total citations

1,038,327

Keywords

ERCPCholecystitisBiliary DrainagePancreatitisGallstonesCholangiocarcinoma