Clinical Characteristics, Treatment, and Prognosis of Patients with Obstructive Jaundice in Tertiary Care Facilities: A Prospective Study

Abstract

Background: Obstructive jaundice can have a number of reasons, but choledocholithias is the most frequent. Obstructive jaundice patients frequently complain of pruritus, jaundice, pale faeces, dark urine, and yellow skin and eyes. Today, because to improvements in imaging technology over the years, a precise pre-operative diagnosis is nearly always attainable. The study's goals were to examine the clinical characteristics and treatment of patients with obstructive jaundice. Methods: Patients with obstructive jaundice who were admitted to the Department of Hepatology at SCB Medical College, Cuttack, Odisha, were the subject of the current hospital-based prospective interventional study. Patients of age greater than 12 years of either sex were studied during the study period of two years after providing written consent. Results: The mean age of the 50 patients was 51.10 years, with 29 (58%) female and 21 (42%) male patients. 19 (38%) of the patients had malignant obstructive jaundice, while 31 (62%) had benign causes. The most frequent symptoms and signs of obstructive jaundice were abdominal pain (100%) and icterus (100%) respectively. The most frequent cancer was cholangiocarcinoma (Ca) of the head of pancreas (Ca) of 2009 (18%), followed by cholangiocarcinoma of the distal common bile duct (CBD) of 2004 (08%), and hilar cholangiocarcinoma of 2003 (06%). The most frequent benign cause was choledocholithiasis 25 (50%) followed by benign stricture of common bile duct 03 (06%). Conclusion: One of the frequent reasons of surgically treatable jaundice is obstructive jaundice. Its cause is diverse, and the right imaging is typically required for diagnosis. As delayed diagnosis may result in permanent pathological alterations that increase morbidity and death, proper diagnosis and treatment are essential.