All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
Cholangiography
Medical expert of the article
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025
Cholangiography is a group of methods for X-ray examination of the bile ducts after direct injection of a contrast agent into their lumen. Cholangiography is not associated with the activity of liver cells and the concentrating capacity of the gallbladder. The contrast agent can be introduced in different ways: by percutaneous puncture into the bile ducts or gallbladder (percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography or percutaneous cholecystography); under duodenoscopy control into the opening of the major papilla of the duodenum (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography - ERCP); during surgery (intraoperative cholangiography) or in the postoperative period through a drainage tube. Magnetic resonance cholangiography has been developing rapidly and successfully lately. The main purpose of cholangiography is to examine the bile ducts in patients with mechanical (subhepatic) jaundice of various etiologies. It is performed after sonography and computed tomography.
The liver and bile ducts can be imaged using radionuclide methods. For this purpose, the patient is given an intravenous injection of a radiopharmaceutical, which is captured from the blood either by hepatocytes ( 99m Tc-butyl-IDA) or by stellate reticuloendotheliocytes ( 99m Tc-colloid). In the first case, the technique is called hepatobiliary scintigraphy, in the second - hepatoscintigraphy. In both cases, an image of the liver appears on scintigrams. In the direct projection, it looks like a large triangle; it is possible to distinguish the right and left lobes, a depression at the top (cardiac notch), and sometimes a notch along the lower contour corresponding to the gallbladder fossa. The density of the shadow is higher in the central part of the right lobe, since there is a larger volume of liver tissue here. In the lateral projection, the liver shadow resembles an irregular oval, rhombus or triangle. In all positions, a uniform distribution of the radiopharmaceutical in the organ is recorded.
[