Common Bile-Duct Mucosa in Choledochoduodenostomy Patients — Histological and Histochemical Study

We describe the histological and histochemical changes of the common bile-duct mucosa in specimens obtained by means of peroral cholangioscopy, 1–12 years after choledochoduodenal anastomosis. Our findings — hyperplasia of the superficial epithelium, metaplastic goblet cells containing predominantly acid sialomucins, and pyloric-like gland formation containing neutral mucins — express a morphological and functional differentiation of the common bile-duct mucosa that probably facilitates its survival in a different environment. We consider that these adaptive changes may explain the uneventful long-term postoperative period of choledochoduodenostomized patients

Formalin-induced experimental sclerosing cholangitis in the rat

The few reported cases of sclerosing cholangitis following removal of an echinococcus cyst are thought to be a consequence of the chemical action of formalin used for sterilization of the residual cavity. The aim of this study was to assess this hypothesis. We injected 0.15ml of 2% buffered formalin solution into the central hepatic lobe of five rats, after a midline laparotomy. At 6, 12, 18 and 24 weeks after formalin injection al1 rats were reoperated upon and a sample of hepatic parenchyma from both the central and the left hepatic lobe was obtained for microscopic evaluation. Our findings, dilatation of portal tracts and bile canaliculi, thickening of the pericanalicular cytoplasm, portal and periportal inflammatory cell infiltration and fibrosis and enlargement of the perisinusoidal space of Disse, suggest that 2% formalin solution leads to the development of essential phenomena of cholestasis and sclerosing cholangitis in the rat, so thus it should be avoided in liver hydatid disease surgery