THE LONGMIRE PROCEDURE: IS IT WORTHWHILE?

Objective: to evaluate the peripheral intrahepatic cholangiojejunostomy (longmire procedure) for the palliative treatment of jaundice in patients with irresectable malignant tumours of the liver hilum. material and methods: in a retrospective study, indications, surgical technique, perioperative complications, and efficacy of treatment were analyzed for 17 patients who had received a longmire peripheral intrahepatic cholangiojejunostomy between may 2000 and august 2004. results: the longmire procedure was exclusively palliative in all 17 cases. the 30-day mortality in the study group was 11.6% (n=2/17), and the mean survival was 6.2 months. in patients surviving more than one month, a marked and persistent decrease in cholestasis was achieved in 86.6% cases. conclusion: the longmire peripheral intrahepatic cholangiojejunostomy is a feasible and a worthwhile procedure and offers a reasonably effective palliative treatment for patients with irresectable tumours of the liver hilum.