This document defines hemobilia and provides information on its history, causes, clinical presentation, diagnosis, prevention, and management. Hemobilia refers to bleeding into the biliary tract from abnormal connections between blood vessels and bile ducts. It can result from traumatic or iatrogenic injuries, gallstones, tumors, or vascular abnormalities. Clinical features include gastrointestinal bleeding, abdominal pain, and jaundice. Angiography and endoscopy are important diagnostic tools. Treatment depends on the bleeding source but may involve endoscopic methods, transarterial embolization, covered stents, or surgery. The goal is to achieve hemostasis while maintaining bile flow.

2.  Definition
 History
 Etiology
 Clinical Presentation
 Diagnosis
 Prevention
 Management
 Conclusion

3.  Refers to hemorrhage
into the biliary tract
occurs when disease or
trauma produces an
abnormal
communication
between blood vessels
and bile duct

4.  The first published case in North
America was by a Boston
surgeon, Jackson (1834), who
reported on the clinical and
pathologic consequences of an
“aneurysm of the hepatic artery
bursting into the hepatic duct,”
the first direct observation of an
abnormal communication
between the blood vessels and
biliary ducts
 In 1871, the German surgeon
Quincke (1871) further
characterized biliary tract
hemorrhage by establishing three
cardinal symptoms: GI
hemorrhage, biliary colic, and
jaundice, commonly called
“Quincke’s triad.”
Francis Glisson

5. Common causes Rare causes
trauma (accidental or
Iatrogenic)
nematodes
gallstones, blood coagulation defects,,
neoplasms, choledochal cysts
inflammatory processes, pancreatitis
vascular disorders portal hypertension

7.  The incidence of clinically significant hemobilia after
percutaneous liver biopsy is between 0.01% and
0.06% (Howlett et al, 2013)
 The risk of hemobilia
 chronic liver disease because of the presence of
ascites,
 coagulopathy,
 platelet dysfunction
 liver transplant .
 elevated INR >1.3
 platelet count <60,000

8.  PTBD and PTC are associated with a significantly
higher rate of hemobilia than percutaneous liver
biopsy because of the proximity of hepatic
vasculature to the biliary tree
 Delayed presentation of hemobilia
 Large bore needle gauge size was associated
with hemobilia
 left-sided
 PTBD was associated with hemobilia

9.  risk of hemobilia is higher with PTBD (2.2%)
than with PTC alone (0.7%). (Rivera et al)
This three-fold increase in hemobilia with
PTBD compared to PTC alone may be
 due to the greater size of the aperture made
in the bile duct wall with PTBD
 presence of a foreign material remaining in
the duct which can serve as a cause of
inflammation or erosion.

10.  ultrasound-guided radiofrequency ablation
 transarterial chemoembolization
 transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic
shunt placement

11.  endoscopic sphincterotomy associated bleeding typically occurs at
the level of cut papillary sphincter, but blood can occasionally reflux
from the duodenum into the biliary tree.
 Risk of hemobilia
 stricturoplasty,
 extraction of large stones)
 Coagulopathy
 presence of diseased tissue (e.g. hypervascular tumor)
 presence of variant anatomy
 , aggressive biliary balloon dilation
 intraductal biopsy acquisition,

12.  Surgeries performed near the cystic and right
hepatic artery
 Cholecystectomy, liver transplantation, and
pancreaticoduodenectomy
 Mode of injury of the hepatic artery-suture,
dissection, diathermy injury, clip migration, or
erosion and subsequent arteriobiliary fistula or
pseudoaneurysm
 The majority of pseudoaneurysms occur in the
right hepatic artery, though they can occur in
any artery near the hepatobiliary system.

13.  the most common spontaneous cause of hemobilia is
primary or metastatic hepatobiliary malignancy.
 Eg. cholangiocarcinoma, pancreatic cancer, gallbladder
cancer, liver metastasis, and hepatocellular carcinoma
(HCC)
 due to more friable tissue and
vasculaturespontaneous hemorrhage.
 Cases have been reported hemobilia as an initial
presentation of cholangiocarcinoma (Manolakis AC et al
2008 Ryu DK et al 2010)
 HCC also can cause hemobilia with biliary ductal
invasion- spontaneous rupturing (very rare)

14.  Chronic obstruction of the pancreatobiliary tract
can potentially lead to inflammation, erosion,
and fistulization with adjacent vascular
structures and resultant hemobilia. Even when
gallstones are present, however, there can still
be concurrent hemobilia, especially in cases
wherein the stone erodes through the cystic
artery or other vascular, analogous to how a
stone can erode and fistulize into the duodenum
and cause duodenal outlet obstruction in
Bouveret's syndrome.

15.  Cause of infectious hemobilia is “tropical
hemobilia”, a result of parasitic infestation of
the biliary tract.
 Commonly implicated organisms include
roundworms (e.g. Ascaris lumbricoides), the
Chinese liver fluke (Clonorchis sinensis), and
the sheep liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica).
 Echinococcal infections can also cause
hemobilia indirectly

16.  Quincke's triad: jaundice, right upper quadrant abdominal
pain, and upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage
 Typically, hemobilia can present as hematemesis, melena,
or hematochezia, with or without choluria
 ERCP-related hemobilia tends to present immediately or
within a few days after the inciting biliary duct injury (e.g.
sphincterotomy or biliary stricturoplasty).
 Hemobilia due to venous sources tends to be lower volume
or selflimited compared to the arterial sources.
 Because of their similar echogenicity, it is important to
recognize that clots can masquerade as biliary stones on
imaging studies thus requiring a high index of suspicion
congruent with the clinical presentation.

17. (Slow bleeding)
Blood clots
Cholestasis
Cholangitis
Pancreatitis
Cholecystitis

19. CT of the abdomen with
angiography protocol has become
a first choice diagnostic test for
hemobilia.
The advantages include
 non-invasive nature
 and low radiation exposure
compared to conventional
angiography,
 rapid results
 excellent diagnostic
performance characteristics
Hemobilia in a child due to right hepatic artery pseudoaneurysm: Multidetector-row
computed tomography demonstration(Wani Nisar A et al. 2011)

20.  Up to 60% of hemobilia cases can be diagnosed by
upper endoscopy.
 ERCP can be used to further visualize the biliary
tree and may offer therapeutic options in patients
with hemobilia and associated biliary obstruction.
 Characteristic ERCP findings that suggest the
presence of blood clots include amorphous, tubular,
or cast-like filling defects with otherwise
unexplained common bile duct or peri-hilar ductal
dilation.

21.  Although formal angiography
is no longer used as a first-line
study, it remains the gold-
standard for both diagnosis
and treatment of hemobilia in
most settings.
 If the bleeding vessel has not
already been identified on non-
invasive imaging, the first
angiographic study should be
a celiac arteriogram with
delayed phase imaging to
visualize both the hepatic
arteries as well as the portal
vein.

22.  Is the procedure really indicated?
Procedure
Liver biopsy Tract embolization
PTBD Avoid insertion near liver hilum
Cholecystectomy Avoid injury to hepatic arteries by
e.g. diathermy, suture, clips
Minimize infection, biloma
Patient’s own risk
Ascites Drainage
Coagulopathy Replacement of clotting factors, vitamin K1, withhold
anti-platelet agents

23. Main objectives:
 achieving hemostasis
 maintaining bile flow
The approach depends on several factors:
 including the suspected source of bleeding
(arterial vs. venous bleeding),
 degree of hemodynamic instability
 etiology/cause

24.  Indication :Minor hemobilia
 Often due to injury related to PTBD catheters
 Exchanging a PTBD catheter with a larger sized one
 Adjusting its position
 Minor hemobilia will often resolve with maturation of the
surgically created tract.
 A tractogram or “tubogram”, can be performed
 If hemobilia persists, options such as embolization of the
existing percutaneous tract and creation of a new tract can
be considered

26.  ERCP are typically the initial therapeutic procedure
of choice
 postsphincterotomy hemobiliaduring
sphincterotomy, can be treated
-by spraying diluted epinephrine (1:10,000) over the
area of hemorrhage
-injection of epinephrine into the adjacent tissue
-monopolar or bipolar coagulation
-fibrin sealant injection
-hemoclipping
-balloon tamponading
-stent placement

27.  (e.g. peri-hilar) bleeding
source, other
accessories and
methods to treat the
hemobilia tend to be
needed, including
devices to extract
intraductal clots, e.g.
extraction balloon
catheters and retrieval
baskets, followed by
stent placement, among
other options

29. Indication
 if non-invasive imaging shows significant
arterial extravasation
 presence of large arterial aneurysms or
pseudoaneurysms
 presence of arterio-biliary fistulae
 intrahepatic or extrahepatic vascular lesions
The success rate of TAE has been reported to be as high as
80% to 100%.
TAE should be avoided, in patients
-liver allografts
-cirrhosis with concurrent shock
-portal vein

30.  Once the bleeding site has been identified angiographically,
 superselection of the injured artery via threading of a microcatheter to
the target area is performed, followed by TAE using coils.
 Coiling should be performed in a distal-to-proximal fashion to avoid
back bleeding via intrahepatic arterial collaterals.
 Pseudoaneurysms should be embolized with coils from the two ends
to reduce the risk of enlarging the aneurysm
 Complications of TAE include
 - hepatic abscesses
-postembolization syndrome
-hyperaminotransaminasemia
- hepatic ischemia
-hepatic infarction or rarely failure

31.  An alternative to embolization, as alluded to earlier,
is the placement of a covered stent across the site
of vascular injury.
 Advantage of preserving flow through the artery,
which may be beneficial.
 The diameter of most hepatic vessels is similar to
the size of coronary vessels, making coronary
stents ideal for this application.
 Stent diameter should be slightly oversized by
about 10%e20% of the diameter of the target
vessel and extend approximately 10mm to either
side/end of the site of injury to ensure proper
tamponade.

32.  Surgical intervention is rarely necessary and usually reserved
for failed endoscopic, endovascular, and/or percutaneous
therapies.
 However, it is first-line if pseudoaneurysms are infected or if
they are compressing other vascular structures. Surgery may
also be indicated if cholecystitis is present, among other
uncommon scenarios.
Options for surgery
 hepatic artery ligation,
 Pseudoaneurysm excision
 hepatic segmentectomy/lobectomy with the potential for
concurrent cholecystectomy if cholecystitis is present or the
gallbladder neck is involved.
 Although surgery has a high success rate of above 90%, it is
also associated with a high mortality of up to 10%.

33.  Hemobilia is an unusual but important cause of GI bleeding and most
commonly due to hepatopancreatobiliary tract procedures, regional trauma,
and malignancy.
 The CT angiography and endoscopy/ERCP have become common initial
diagnostic testing modalities.
 Most cases of minor hemobilia can be treated conservatively or with minimally-
invasive endoscopic management.
 While TAE is a mainstay, vascular stenting has gained traction as an alternative
to embolization due to the preservation of hepatic arterial blood supply.
 Surgery is typically reserved as a last resort due to its high mortality rate and
invasive nature relative to alternative approaches.