cholo-, chol-, chole-

The inflammation of the bile vessels and gallbladder.

Inflammation of a bile duct.

Spontaneous invagination of the gallbladder into the duodenum with formation of an opening between the two organs.

Spontaneous invagination of the gallbladder into the transverse colon with formation of an opening between the two organs.

An obsolete term in medicine, relating to an agent that encourages or prompts the release of bile: Susan was feeling quite ill, and after getting a prescription from Dr. Schneider, she got a cholagogic substance at the pharmacy for stimulating the flow or the digestive fluids in her body.

A radiographic procedure where a contrast dye is injected into the bile duct to visualize its course on X-ray.

Used in the detection of gallstones which block the common bile duct.

A radiographic examination of the bile ducts: The cholangiographies are done because a person's liver makes bile, a chemical that helps people to digest food.

The plumbing system of ducts that runs between people's liver, gallbladder, and small intestine is how bile moves around.

Some of the bile goes to work in a person's small intestine and the rest gets stored in his or her gallbladder.

An intraoperative cholangiography is a special kind of X-ray imaging that shows those bile ducts. It's used during surgery and with a typical X-ray, the physician gets one picture; however, a cholangiography shows the doctor a live video of the patient's bile ducts so he, or she, can see what's happening in real-time.

Typically, a cholangiography is used when the patient has gallstones and he or she needs the gallbladder removed.

The doctor will make a few small cut in the person's body (called laparoscopic surgery). Then he or she will put a tiny video camera through one of the cuts to help him/her with the operation.

During this surgery, an intraoperative cholangiogram or cholangiography may help the doctor do the following:

• Check for bile-duct stones.
• Determine if stones in a person's gallbladder have moved into the bile ducts.
• The bile stones don't always cause symptoms, but they can lead to serious problems such as an infection.

Incision into a bile duct or any of the canals or passageways that conduct bile.

There are three canals or ducts: the hepatic duct drains bile from the liver; and the cystic duct is an extension of the gallbladder and conveys bile out of that organ.

These two ducts may be thought of as branches that drain into the third duct, the common bile duct, a kind of "trunk", which passes through the wall of the small intestine at the duodenum and joins with the pancreatic duct to form the hepatopancreatic ampulla (cavity in the major duodenal papilla or small elevations [major and minor] on the mucosa of the duodenum into which the common bile duct and the pancreatic duct open).

Inflammation of a bile duct.

Synthesis of cholic acid or its conjugates and natural bile salts by the liver.