ROLE OF MULTIDETECTOR COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY IN BILIARY OBSTRUCTION.

Background: Obstructive Jaundice is a common surgical problem, MultiDetector Computed Tomography in diagnosis of biliary tract obstruction has a vital role as post processing techniques can be utilized to identify variant biliary anatomy to guide preoperative biliary surgery planning, determine level and cause of obstruction, early tumor detection and staging of biliary cancer are the key factors for possible cure by surgical resection, our aim is to evaluate the role of MDCT in diagnosing level and cause of biliary obstruction.
Patients and Methods: Sixty nine patients with clinically suspected biliary obstruction were encountered in the study and subjected to clinical assessment including full history taking, clinical examination and imaging assessment by MDCT, our findings were correlated to standard reference examinations including: Operative/ERCP/Biopsy and histopathology findings.
Results: Our results showed that the most affected age group was group between 60: <70 years old, males were affected more than females. The most common clinical presentation in our patients was yellowish discoloration of the skin and sclera followed by biliary colic. Right hypochondrial tenderness was the main clinical finding on clinical examination in our study. Our patients were categorized according to the cause of biliary obstruction into seven groups: Malignant stricture group 52.2% (36patients), Calcular group 24.6% (17patients), Iatrogenic group 5.8% (4patients), Porta hepatis lesions group 5.8% (4patients), Benign stricture group 4.3% (3patients), Inflammatory group 4.3% (3patients), Congenital group 1.4% (1patient).
Conclusions: MultiDetector computed tomography provides a modality with high diagnostic performance for differentiating benign from malignant lesions and in detecting biliary calculi.