Surf Wiki
Save to docs
general/biliary-tract-disorders

From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Pneumobilia

FieldValue
namePneumobilia
imagePneumoBiliaArrow.png
captionCT scan of pneumobilia

Pneumobilia is the presence of gas in the biliary system. It is typically detected by ultrasound or a radiographic imaging exam, such as CT, or MRI. It is a common finding in patients that have recently undergone biliary surgery or endoscopic biliary procedure. While the presence of air within biliary system is not harmful, this finding may alternatively suggest a pathological process, such as a biliary-enteric anastomosis, an infection of the biliary system, an incompetent sphincter of Oddi, or spontaneous biliary-enteric fistula.

Causes

In a healthy individual with normal anatomy, there is no air within the biliary tree. When this finding is present, it may be secondary to:

  • Recent surgical or endoscopic biliary procedure (e.g. ERCP, biliary enteric anastomosis)
  • Incompetent sphincter of Oddi (e.g. passage of large gallstone, scarring related to chronic pancreatitis)
  • Spontaneous biliary enteric fistula (e.g. gallstone ileus)
  • Infection by gas-forming organisms (e.g. emphysematous cholangitis)
  • Congenital abnormalities

Other rare causes that have been reported include duodenal diverticulum, paraduodenal abscess, operative trauma, and carcinoma of the duodenum, stomach and bile duct.

References

References

  1. Marshall SF, Polk RC. (1958). "Spontaneous internal biliary fistulas". Surg Clin North Am.
  2. ReMine WH. (1973). "Biliary-enteric fistulas: natural history and mangement[sic]". Adv Surg.
Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

biliary-tract-disorders gases
Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Pneumobilia — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report