What is a Cholangiogram?

An intraoperative cholangiogram refers to an X-RAY which is most commonly prescribed during surgery for removing the gall bladder. The surgeon is able to check for gallstones and avoid causing any damage to the bile duct. Gallstones are made of hard substances, most commonly cholesterol, that collects inside the gallbladder. The gallstones can cause pain and inflammation in the bile ducts and can even cause blockage in the ducts, even after the gallbladder is removed by surgery. 

Before the surgery is done, you will most commonly be given a general anaesthesia. The doctor makes one large incision for traditional open surgery or the doctor may also choose to make multiple smaller incisions for laparoscopic surgery, all depending on the surgery. Then, a catheter is inserted through one of these incisions and placed in your cystic duct. The cystic duct connects the gallbladder to the common bile duct. A special type of dye will be injected into the duct with a catheter. The dye will help your bile ducts appear clearly on the surgeon’s monitor while removing the gallbladder and looking for gallstones. If the Cholangiogram reveals you having gallstones, they may be removed during the procedure or schedule a follow-up appointment for treating them. 

There is not any preparation that a patient needs to take for a Cholangiogram, but there are preparations that are needed before the surgery. The patient will need to get a physical exam for checking the overall health conditions, inform the doctors from beforehand if they the patient already has allergies to the contrast dye or other allergies, not eating anything from 12 hours prior to the surgery, avoiding intake of blood thinners, aspirin, or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and arranging for someone to take you home after the surgery is done. 

Recovery from an IOC is fast and easy and a patient may require some additional recovery time depending on the type of surgery done by the surgeons. If the surgery is done using the laparoscopic technique, the patient will be able to go home the very day of the procedure. There are definitely exceptional cases where the patient will need to stay overnight or for a few more days before the patient begins to eat, drink, and use the bathroom comfortably as before the test. An open surgery requires the patient to stay admitted for a week or so.

 

There can be a few tips that could be followed to make sure that your recovery is smooth. Take all the prescribed medications as given by the doctor, take plenty of rest and a few days off from work, make dietary changes if the doctor recommends so. Also, if the patient is breastfeeding, she must wait 24 hours so that the contrast dye is flushed out of the body before she can feed the baby again. There may be follow-up appointments scheduled to make sure that no gallstones are remaining in the bile ducts so that they can drain the extra bile. 

These tests do come with any risks as such. In fact, a Cholangiogram reduces the risk of having complications during the gallbladder surgery by 62%. The complications that could occur during a gallbladder surgery may include damage to bile ducts, internal bleeding, pancreas inflammation, and infection. 

These complications can occur after any surgery, but with the gallbladder removal surgery, the Cholangiogram reduces the risks of complications. 

This is all you need to know before you are going in for a t-tube cholangiogram. With LASCO Medicare, there is nothing you need to worry about. We give you all the necessary briefings about all the dos and don’ts before your t-tube cholangiogram so that you are prepared. You can relax while we take care of the rest. 

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