Biliary stricture

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Bile pathway

Overview

Symptoms

Treatment

Prevention

Biliary stricture

Definition:

Biliary stricture involves an abnormal narrowing of the biliary duct that transports bile (a chemical used in digestion) from the liver to the small intestine.

Alternative Names:

Bile duct stricture

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

Biliary strictures are often caused by surgical trauma to the bile ducts, for example, after surgery to remove the gallbladder (cholecystectomy).

Other causes of this condition are blunt injury to the intestine, pancreatitis, breakdown of the duct by a gallstone in the bile duct, primary sclerosing cholangitis, and cancer of the bile duct.

Risk factors include previous biliary surgery, pancreatitis, cholelithiasis, or injury to the intestine.

Review Date: 7/16/2004
Reviewed By: Christian Stone, M.D., Division of Gastroenterology, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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