Bronchobiliary fistula complicating oriental cholangiohepatitis

Abstract

Bronchio biliary fistula in adults is a rare event defined by the passage of bile into the bronchus and the sputum (biloptysis). Typically these lesions occur in the congenital form, as a result of thoracoabdominal trauma, or in rare instances as a result of iatrogenic injury or long-standing biliary tract disease and obstruction. In this paper, we report a novel case of a fatal bronchobiliary fistula that developed in a 67-year-old Chinese male with Oriental cholangiohepatitis. To our knowledge, this is the first case report of a bronchobiliary fistula complicating the clinical management of a patient with this disease.