Type:
Educational Exhibit
Keywords:
Parasites, Cancer, Calcifications / Calculi, Education, Complications, MR, CT, Pancreas, Biliary Tract / Gallbladder, Abdomen
Authors:
L. M. Florescu, A. M. Lapadat, S. Bondari, I. A. Gheonea; Craiova/RO
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2018/C-0618
Background
The biliary tract starts with bile canaliculi that form inside the liver and tend to group up into larger ducts.
They carry the exocrine bile produced by the hepatocytes to the interlobular ducts and further on to the left and right hepatic ducts.
The latter two reunite in order to form the common hepatic duct.
The gallbladder is connected to the extrahepatic biliary tract through the cystic duct which joins the common hepatic duct in order to form the common bile duct (CBD).
Furthermore,
the ampulla of Vater is formed by the union of the main pancreatic duct and the distal part of the CBD.
At this level,
the sphincter of Oddi (also known as the hepatopancreatic sphincter) controls the passage of bile and pancreatic juice into the second part of the duodenum through multiple series of contractions and relaxations.
Biliary tract obstruction represents an obstacle along the ducts that carry the bile from the liver and the gallbladder to the second part of the duodenum and it can be caused by both benign (choledocholithiasis,
pseudotumoral chronic pancreatitis,
biliary ascariasis) and malignant lesions (pancreatic head carcinoma,
ampullary carcinoma,
cholangiocarcinoma).