BACKGROUND: Clinical application of laparoscopy, duodenoscopy and choledochoscopy has been accepted as a mini-invasive surgical therapy for bile duct diseases; but either endoscopic or laparoscopic therapy alone is disadvantageous in its narrow indications and in failure to give full play to the individual superiority. The present study was to evaluate the procedures and therapeutic results of combined laparoscopic and endoscopic treatment for bile duct diseases.
METHODS: Clinical data of 1990 patients with bile duct diseases treated by combination of laparoscopy, duodenoscopy and choledochoscopy in two hospitals were reviewed and analyzed.
RESULTS: Patients with cholecystolithiasis and choledocholithiasis were treated with combined laparoscopy and duodenoscopy (n=1350) in a single operation with a cure rate of 93.6%. Those with choledocholithiasis (n=332) were treated with combined laparoscopy and choledochoscopy with a cure rate of 100%. Combined laparoscopy, duodenoscopy and choledochoscopy was used in 258 patients with choledocholithiasis (29 of them complicated with pancreatitis) and 24 patients with Mirizzi’s syndrome, with a cure rate of 100%. Laparoscopic choledochoenterostomy and preoperative endoscopic nasobiliary drainage were done in 26 patients with a cure rate of 100%. There were no serious operative complications. A follow-up study of 1051 patients for 3 months to 12 years (mean 7.8 years) showed that 10 patients had recurrence of stones but no stenosis of the bile duct.
CONCLUSION:  Combined laparoscopic and endoscopic procedures are mini-invasive and cause less pain and minimal operative complications.