What is obstructive biliary disease?

‌Biliary obstruction is when your bile duct becomes blocked. Bile ducts or pancreatic ducts are vessels that carry bile from your liver and gallbladder through your pancreas to your intestines. A blockage in your bile duct can cause severe complications if left untreated.

What is the pathophysiology of obstructive jaundice?

Obstructive jaundice is a specific type of jaundice, where symptoms develop due to a narrowed or blocked bile duct or pancreatic duct, preventing the normal drainage of bile from the bloodstream into the intestines.

What causes obstruction in the liver?

Gallstones are a common cause of bile duct obstruction. They can form when there is a chemical imbalance in the gallbladder. If they are large enough, they may block a bile duct as they pass through the biliary system.

How do you test for biliary obstruction?

The following tests may be used to investigate a possible blocked bile duct:

  1. Abdominal ultrasound.
  2. Abdominal CT scan.
  3. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP)
  4. Percutaneous transhepatic cholangiogram (PTCA)
  5. Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP)
  6. Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)

What are the features of obstructive jaundice?

Obstructive Jaundice – What it is Yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes, light-coloured stools and dark urine could be signs of obstructive jaundice – a condition where normal drainage of bile from the liver to the small intestines is blocked.

What causes narrowing of the bile duct?

A bile duct stricture is often caused by injury to the bile ducts during surgery. For example, it may occur after surgery to remove the gallbladder. Other causes of this condition include: Cancer of the bile duct, liver or pancreas.

Why Vit K is given in obstructive jaundice?

In obstructive jaundice, mal-absorption of vitamin K results in hypoprothrombinaemia and a fall in the concentration of the other vitamin K-dependent pro- and anticoagulation factors. Laboratory assays are used to assess the state of the coagulation system.

Why is alkaline phosphatase elevated in biliary obstruction?

When bone disease is excluded, an elevation suggests biliary obstruction, injury to the bile duct epithelium, or cholestasis. The mechanism for an elevated alkaline phosphatase has been related to enhanced synthesis and to release from cell membranes by the detergent action of retained bile salts.