Indications for Common-Duct Exploration

THE results of common-duct exploration in the presence of chronic cholecystitis at the Massachusetts General Hospital for the years 1943–1953 have been previously reported,1 and some dissatisfaction with these results has been expressed. In our experience choledochostomy, when added to cholecystectomy, tripled the mortality (Table 1), whether or not stones were found in the duct. More significantly, when a choledochostomy was done the mortality directly attributable to the operative procedure was increased by a factor of about 10. The total number of deaths involved was not large, 8 following cholecystectomy and 17 cholecystectomy and choledochostomy, but they represent a statistically . . .