Intraoperative Cholangio-Ultrasound in Resective Liver Surgery (IOCUS)

January 25, 2011 updated by: University of Milan

More Than 400 Hepatectomies Without Intraoperative Cholangiography: Prospective Validation of the Role of Ultrasound

Liver surgery should be considered an echo-guided procedure to guarantee conservative but radical resections. The investigators describe a further application of intraoperative ultrasonography (IOUS) for studying the biliary tree during liver surgery with no need for formal cholangiography.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Detailed Description

Intraoperative ultrasonography (IOUS) in liver surgery is widely accepted as a fundamental tool for radical and safe hepatectomy [1]. New technical improvements of IOUS have been reported in recent years both for tumor characterization and staging [2] and for resection guidance [3-5]. However, intraoperative cholangiography (IOC) still represents the gold standard for studying the biliary tract anatomy as well as for guiding reconstruction in case of bile duct resection and, moreover, with the advent of living donation it is the standard reference for validating preoperative imaging [6]. Conversely, it could be affirmed that IOUS in this sense has no role, if not for guiding intraoperative dilated bile duct drainage [7]. Nevertheless, IOC has not negligible costs, it implies the use of x-ray, iodated contrast agents and is time consuming.

Herein is proposed a technique for bile duct exploration by means of intraoperative cholangio-ultrasound (IOCUS) validated on a consecutive series of patients undergoing liver resection.

  1. Machi J, Oishi AJ, Furumoto NL, Oishi RH (2004). Intraoperative ultrasound. Surg Clin North Am, 84(4): 1085-111
  2. Minagawa M, Makuuchi M, Takayama T, Ohtomo K (2001). Selection criteria for hepatectomy in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and portal vein tumor thrombus. Ann Surg, 233(3): 379-84
  3. Torzilli G, Del Fabbro D, Olivari N, Calliada F, Montorsi M, Makuuchi M (2004). Contrast-enhanced intraoperative ultrasonography during liver surgery. Br J Surg, 91(9): 1165-7
  4. Torzilli G, Makuuchi M. Ultrasound-guided finger compression in liver subsegmentectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma (2004). Surg Endosc, 18(1):136-9
  5. Torzilli G, Takayama T, Hui AM, Kubota K, Harihara Y, Makuuchi M (1999). A new technical aspect of ultrasound-guided liver surgery. Am J Surg, 178(4): 341-3
  6. Lee VS, Krinsky GA, Nazzaro CA, Chang JS, Babb JS, Lin JC, Morgan GR, Teperman LW. Defining intrahepatic biliary anatomy in living liver transplant donor candidates at mangafodipir trisodium-enhanced MR cholangiography versus conventional T2-weighted MR cholangiography. Radiology, 2004; 233(3): 659-66
  7. Torzilli G, Makuuchi M, Komatsu Y, Noie T, Abe H, Kobayashi T, Kubota K, Takayama T. US guided biliary drainage during hepatopancreatico-jejunostomy for diffuse bile duct carcinoma. Hepatogastroenterology. 1999; 46(26): 863-6.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

448

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

      • Rozzano - Milano, Italy, 20086
        • Istituto Clinico Humanitas, IRCCS

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Probability Sample

Study Population

Patients undergoing resective liver surgery for hepatobiliary tumors

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Patients who need:

  • clarification of the bile duct anatomy;
  • disclosure of eventual intrahepatic bile duct dilation;
  • verification of the patency of a sutured bile duct after tumor detachment from a glissonian sheath;
  • check of the drainage of a bile duct stump on the liver cut surface prior to bilio-enteric anastomoses.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
IOCUS

Techniques are as follows:

  1. Direct ultrasound exploration without any contrast agents.
  2. IOCUS injection into the bile duct of a mixture of air and saline (2 parts water and 1 part air);
  3. IOCUS injection of an air bolus into the bile duct.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
the technical feasibility
Time Frame: 90- days for postoperative morbidity and mortality
90- days for postoperative morbidity and mortality

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Efficacy
Time Frame: 90-days for postoperative morbidity and mortality
Efficacy in providing the proper information validated by postoperative outcome and in particular by the absence of an undrained portion of the liver after resection, biliary reconstruction or bilio-enteric anastomoses, and the absence of consistent bile leaks
90-days for postoperative morbidity and mortality

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: GUIDO TORZILLI, MD, PhD, University of Milan

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

June 1, 2004

Study Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2010

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 24, 2011

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 25, 2011

First Posted (Estimate)

January 26, 2011

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

January 26, 2011

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 25, 2011

Last Verified

June 1, 2010

More Information

Terms related to this study

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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