Diagnostic Value of Ultrasound in Detection of Biliary Tract Complications After Liver Transplantation

Background: biliary complications are significant source of morbidity after liver transplantation (lt). cholangiography is the gold standard for diagnosis and specification of biliary complications. objectives: detailed analyses of ultrasound (us) as a safe imaging method in this regard are still lacking. therefore we analyzed systematically the diagnostic value of us in these patients. patients and methods: retrospectively, 128 liver graft recipients and their clinical data were analyzed. all patients had a standardized us examination. the findings of us were compared to cholangiographic results in 42 patients. following statistical analyses were performed: descriptive statistics, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values (ppv, npv). results: 42 patients had 54 different biliary complications (anastomotic stenosis (as) n = 33, ischemic type biliary lesions (itbl) n = 18 and leakage n = 3). us detected n = 22/42 (52%) patients with biliary complications. the sensitivity, specificity, ppv and npv of us were: 61%, 100%, 100%, 79% (95ci, 36-86%) for itbl and 24%, 100, 100%, 31% (95ci, 9-46 %) for as, respectively conclusions: us examination had no false positive rate. therefore, it may be helpful as a first screening modality. but for the direct diagnosis of the biliary complication us is not sensitive enough.