Diagnosis of Caroli's disease by technetium-99m DISIDA cholescintigraphy. Report of three cases

Abstract

Three patients in whom Caroli's disease was diagnosed by cholangiographic methods were studied by scintigraphy with Tc-99m DISIDA. Cholescintigrams showed an intense concentration of the radionuclide in the form of round spots near the hepatic hilus in late images. In two patients with cholestasis, a delayed hepatic clearance of the radionuclide was observed, which improved when the exploration was performed after a choledocoduodenostomy. Tc-99m DISIDA is not only a good noninvasive method to diagnose Caroli's disease, but also a useful technique to evaluate the patency of the biliary tree during the follow-up of such patients.