Background/Aims: Most of the stones in the bile duct result in several different clinical situations such as asymptomatic incidental findings, biliary colic, acute cholangitis, gallstone pancreatitis and even sepsis. In asymptomatic incidental findings, it is impossible to predict the clinical course and when these complications related with stones were occur. So it is very difficult and dangerous to observe the bile duct stone patients prospectively. The purpose of this study is analyzing the clinical manifestation of bile duct stones and to assess the validity of clinical intervention. Methods: We performed the retrospective review of bile duct stone patients who confirmed by ERCP at Samsung Medical Center in Korea from May 1995 to October 1998. Results: In this study asymptomatic patients were only 28 patients (8%) of total 366 patients and the rest of them presented abnormal lab data, clinically significant cholangitis and gallstone pancreatitis. Conclusion: It is needed to perform the interventions such as EST or ENBD to relieve the symptoms and to save a life in bile duct stone patients.
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