Amylase level in extrahepatic bile duct in adult patients with choledochal cyst plus anomalous pancreatico-biliary ductal union

AIM: To investigate the relationship between pancreatic amylase in bile duct and the clinico-pathological features in adult patients with choledochal cyst and anomalous pancreatico-biliary ductal union (APBDU). METHODS: From 39 patients who underwent surgery for choledochal cyst between March 1995 and March 2003, we selected 15 adult patients who had some symptoms and were radiologically diagnosed as APBDU, and their clinico-pathological features were subsequently evaluated retrospectively. However, we could not obtain biliary amylase in all the patients because of the surgeon's slip. Therefore, we measured the amylase level in gall bladder of 10 patients and in common bile duct of 11 patients. RESULTS: Levels of amylase in common bile duct and gall bladder ranged from 11 500 to 212 000 IU/L, and the younger the patients, the higher the biliary amylase level (r = -0.982, P