[The role of ERCP in the diagnosis and therapy of Mirizzi's syndrome. Apropos a clinical case].

Mirizzi syndrome is a rare variant of obstructive jaundice due to compression of the hepatic duct caused by a stone inserted in the cystic duct or in the Hartmann recess and it is referred with a prevalence of 0.05-1% of patients with cholelithiasis. These percentages are, nevertheless, unreliable because only an accurate preoperative cholangiography allow to detect a Mirizzi syndrome and so, very often, the real cause of the jaundice remains unacknowledged. Early diagnosis of the syndrome is particularly important because it suggests an accurate and prudential surgical approach considering the frequent fibrotic adherences caused by chronic inflammation. In this paper the authors present a clinical case quickly and successfully cured operative endoscopy, followed by traditional surgery. The authors believe that the study of obstructive jaundices must include an ERCP either for the diagnosis or because operative endoscopy could ameliorate clinical feature and hepatic performance in order to allow a safer surgical operation.