Early phase detection of bile leak after hepatobiliary surgery: value of Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MR cholangiography.

Purpose: To assess the value of gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced MR cholangiography for the detection of bile leaks after hepatobiliary surgery.

Methods: Twenty-three patients with symptoms suggestive of bile leak underwent conventional fat-suppressed T1- and T2-weighted MR cholangiography followed by Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MR cholangiography using gradient-echo (GRE) T2-weighted sequences and fat-suppressed T1-weighted 3D gradient-echo sequences 20 min after an intravenous bolus of Gd-EOB-DTPA. The results of Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MR cholangiography correlated with clinical findings, surgical repair, and the results of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography and percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography.