Skip to content

Intraoperative Cholangio-Ultrasound in Resective Liver Surgery

More Than 400 Hepatectomies Without Intraoperative Cholangiography: Prospective Validation of the Role of Ultrasound

Status
Completed
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Observational
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT01283802
Acronym
IOCUS
Enrollment
448
Registered
2011-01-26
Start date
2004-06-30
Completion date
2010-06-30
Last updated
2011-01-26

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Liver Cancer

Brief summary

Liver surgery should be considered an echo-guided procedure to guarantee conservative but radical resections. The investigators describe a further application of intraoperative ultrasonography (IOUS) for studying the biliary tree during liver surgery with no need for formal cholangiography.

Detailed description

Intraoperative ultrasonography (IOUS) in liver surgery is widely accepted as a fundamental tool for radical and safe hepatectomy \[1\]. New technical improvements of IOUS have been reported in recent years both for tumor characterization and staging \[2\] and for resection guidance \[3-5\]. However, intraoperative cholangiography (IOC) still represents the gold standard for studying the biliary tract anatomy as well as for guiding reconstruction in case of bile duct resection and, moreover, with the advent of living donation it is the standard reference for validating preoperative imaging \[6\]. Conversely, it could be affirmed that IOUS in this sense has no role, if not for guiding intraoperative dilated bile duct drainage \[7\]. Nevertheless, IOC has not negligible costs, it implies the use of x-ray, iodated contrast agents and is time consuming. Herein is proposed a technique for bile duct exploration by means of intraoperative cholangio-ultrasound (IOCUS) validated on a consecutive series of patients undergoing liver resection. 1. Machi J, Oishi AJ, Furumoto NL, Oishi RH (2004). Intraoperative ultrasound. Surg Clin North Am, 84(4): 1085-111 2. Minagawa M, Makuuchi M, Takayama T, Ohtomo K (2001). Selection criteria for hepatectomy in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and portal vein tumor thrombus. Ann Surg, 233(3): 379-84 3. Torzilli G, Del Fabbro D, Olivari N, Calliada F, Montorsi M, Makuuchi M (2004). Contrast-enhanced intraoperative ultrasonography during liver surgery. Br J Surg, 91(9): 1165-7 4. Torzilli G, Makuuchi M. Ultrasound-guided finger compression in liver subsegmentectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma (2004). Surg Endosc, 18(1):136-9 5. Torzilli G, Takayama T, Hui AM, Kubota K, Harihara Y, Makuuchi M (1999). A new technical aspect of ultrasound-guided liver surgery. Am J Surg, 178(4): 341-3 6. Lee VS, Krinsky GA, Nazzaro CA, Chang JS, Babb JS, Lin JC, Morgan GR, Teperman LW. Defining intrahepatic biliary anatomy in living liver transplant donor candidates at mangafodipir trisodium-enhanced MR cholangiography versus conventional T2-weighted MR cholangiography. Radiology, 2004; 233(3): 659-66 7. Torzilli G, Makuuchi M, Komatsu Y, Noie T, Abe H, Kobayashi T, Kubota K, Takayama T. US guided biliary drainage during hepatopancreatico-jejunostomy for diffuse bile duct carcinoma. Hepatogastroenterology. 1999; 46(26): 863-6.

Interventions

PROCEDUREINTRAOPERATIVE CHOLANGIO-ULTRASOUND

Techniques are as follows: 1. Direct ultrasound exploration without any contrast agents. 2. IOCUS injection into the bile duct of a mixture of air and saline (2 parts water and 1 part air); 3. IOCUS injection of an air bolus into the bile duct.

Sponsors

University of Milan
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Observational model
COHORT
Time perspective
PROSPECTIVE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

Patients who need: * clarification of the bile duct anatomy; * disclosure of eventual intrahepatic bile duct dilation; * verification of the patency of a sutured bile duct after tumor detachment from a glissonian sheath; * check of the drainage of a bile duct stump on the liver cut surface prior to bilio-enteric anastomoses.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frame
the technical feasibility90- days for postoperative morbidity and mortality

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Efficacy90-days for postoperative morbidity and mortalityEfficacy in providing the proper information validated by postoperative outcome and in particular by the absence of an undrained portion of the liver after resection, biliary reconstruction or bilio-enteric anastomoses, and the absence of consistent bile leaks

Countries

Italy

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026