Scintigraphic diagnosis of bile leakage

Specificity and sensitivity of cholescintigraphy for diagnosis of bile leakage were evaluated in a prospective study in 91 patients with partial liver resection and in 64 patients with liver transplantation. Sensitivity was found to be 0.93, specificity in the evaluable scintigrams 1.0. If all non-evaluable scintigrams are considered to be wrong, specificity was 0.83. Cholescintigraphy is a non-invasive method without irritation of the patient with a high specificity and sufficient sensitivity for demonstration or exclusion of a leak. These leaks may arise not only postoperatively but also after biopsies, trauma or spontaneously. In cases of clinical suspicion cholescintigraphy should be used as primary investigational tool.