Aim: Emergent biliary drainage is necessary due to acute symptoms of choledochal cysts. Percutaneous biliary drainage (PBD), laparoscopic bile duct drainage (LBD), and laparoscopic cholecystostomy (LC) are the three most common drainage treatments. So far, there is no comparative study on these three approaches, which all have been applied in our hospital. This article compares the drainage effects of these three approaches and illustrates their respective merits and demerits, with the aim of providing a reference for clinical application. Materials and Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of 20 children who underwent biliary drainage before their definitive surgery due to acute symptoms of choledochal cysts between June 2008 and May 2015. Among them, 6 underwent PBD, 8 underwent LBD, and 6 underwent LC. Results: Preoperative abdominal pain, fever, and jaundice symptoms were effectively relieved by the three approaches. There were no significant differences in terms of the recovery of liver functions. The average interval and duration of procedures of three groups were PBD (25.00 ± 4.47 minutes and 262.50 ± 35.74 minutes), LBD (84.37 ± 24.99 minutes and 283.75 ± 39.62 minutes), and LC (50.83 ± 13.57 minutes and 218.33 ± 28.58 minutes), respectively. Conclusions: LC has advantages of a comparatively simple operation and no foreign body sensation (external drain) in the hepatic duct, which is beneficial for relieving inflammation of the common bile duct, and thus is suitable for majority of patients needing external bile drainage. Meanwhile, PBD and LBD also have their respective applicable patients.
Keywords: cholecystostomy; choledochal cyst; laparoscopy.