Surgery for the correction of biliary tract obstruction was initiated by Von Winiwater1 in 1880 when he successfully performed a cholecystoenterostomy. With the subsequent evolvement of gallbladder surgery, accidental injury of the common bile duct with resultant biliary tract obstruction has presented quite a problem and a challenge to the surgeon.
Many carefully designed procedures and various materials have been used to reconstruct the damaged common bile duct. Among these, such inert materials as bone, rubber, Vitallium, and plastics have been used experimentally and clinically.2-7 In most instances such prostheses either were passed by peristaltic action into the intestinal tract or became obstructed with bile concretions. Tissue grafts of fascia, ureters, veins, arteries, skin, and omentum have been used with limited success.8-14 These operative procedures have repeatedly failed because of contracture of graft or stricturing at the line of anastomosis. Ulin and others14 stated that no