A 64-year-old female presented to the surgical emergency unit with a day's history of right upper quadrant pain. Her physical examination revealed right upper quadrant tenderness with no rebound tenderness or muscular guarding. Other systemic findings were normal. Laboratory test showed leukocytosis of 17 × 10³/µL and elevated C-reactive protein of 51 mg/L (0–5 ml/L). Other laboratory values including serum amylase, bilirubin and transaminases were normal. Abdominal ultrasound revealed thickened gallbladder (GB) wall (4.7 mm) with a 25 mm gallstone. A diagnosis of acute calculous cholecystitis was made and intravenous fluid and antibiotic treatment were initiated. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy was considered after 48 h of observation. During surgery a standard 4-port technique was used after pneumoperitoneum using the Veress needle. GB wall was found to be inflamed with omental adhesions. Using the critical view of safety approach, the cystic artery and cystic duct were separately identified, clipped and transected. After careful dissection of the GB from the liver bed small amount of bile was observed oozing from a spot proximal to the ligated cystic duct stump. Irrigation of the spot revealed a small tear at what was thought to be the common hepatic duct. A 5-Fr drainage catheter (50 cm long, 1.4 mm in diameter) was placed into the opened duct and exteriorized through the mid-clavicular 5 mm port site for post-operative drainage. A tube cholangiography done on post-operative Day 7 showed duplication of the common hepatic duct proximal to the cystic duct stump with the injury occurring on the right-sided duct (Fig. ). A magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) was taken which confirmed the presence of the duplicated common hepatic duct with the cystic duct stump distal to the duplication (Fig. ). No PBM was observed. Her post-operative course was uneventful with an average biliary drainage output of about 300 ml. Drainage tube was clamped on post-operative Day 9 and finally removed 4 weeks after surgery. No complication was observed and patient is currently doing well.
A 60-year-old Middle Eastern male patient with a past medical history of benign prostatic hyperplasia, hypertension, gastroesophageal reflux disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus presented to the emergency department complaining of crampy lower abdominal pain associated with an unintentional 40 pounds weight loss over 4 months. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the abdomen with intravenous contrast demonstrated a heterogeneous solid pancreatic uncinate mass (3.9 × 3.2 cm) with a duplicated common bile duct ().\nA subsequent endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) confirmed a large heterogeneous hypoechoic mass with irregular borders and cystic areas in the uncinate process of the pancreas. The distal CBD appeared mildly dilated with two extrahepatic bile ducts consistent with type II accessory common bile duct (ACBD). The accessory bile duct provided a conduit for the deposition of bile in the pancreatic head where it terminated. Subsequent inflammation progressed to metaplastic changes confirmed by a fine needle aspiration (FNA) via trangastric approach. The atypical cells of metaplasia found in the pancreatic head were confirmed to be pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) confirmed the above EUS findings along with multiple enhancing foci also present in the liver. A triple phase computerized tomography (CT) also re-demonstrated an ACBD () with multiple hypervascular hepatic lesions and a soft tissue mass in the pancreatic uncinate process () encasing the superior mesenteric artery (SMA). The patient was eventually discharged for further staging and subsequent chemotherapy at a different institution.