Laparoscopic common bile duct exploration

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is now the standard approach to gallbladder disease¹. While laparo-scopic cholecystectomy offers many advantages over the conventional laparotomy procedure one of its drawbacks is that a synchronous common bile duct exploration, for so long a cornerstone of management of choledocholithiasis, is not yet widely practised laparoscopically. Endoscopic sphincterotomy or open surgery, with their attendant hazards and morbidity, remain the most common approaches. A flexible choledochoscope with an operating channel may in future facilitate laparoscopic management of chole-docholithiasis but as yet this is not widely available². We report the removal of a common duct stone by dormia basket extraction through the cystic duct at laparoscopic cholecystectomy.