Biloma is defined as any collection of bile outside the biliary tree, usually resulting from surgery complications and abdominal trauma. Spontaneous occurrence of bilomas is rare, occasionally associated with choledocolithiasis. The present report describes a case of spontaneous biloma, whose diagnosis was radiologically confirmed. At laparotomy, the presence of a retroperitoneal biloma was observed. Intraoperative cholangiography has not demonstrated the presence of fistula. After drainage, the patient progressed well and was discharged.

Keywords: Biloma; Choledocolithiasis; Retroperitoneum.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the utility of computed tomography (CT) scans to detect and assess the margin status of pulmonary nodules that were insufflated after being resected by video-assisted thoracic surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a novel multicenter study conducted at two national referral centers for thoracic diseases. Patients suspected of having lung cancer underwent video-assisted thoracic surgery for the resection of pulmonary nodules, which were submitted to postoperative CT. Measurements from the CT scans were compared with the results of the histopathological analysis. RESULTS: A total of 37 pulmonary nodules from 37 patients were evaluated. The mean age of the patients was 65 years (range, 36–84 years), and 27 (73%) were female. A CT analysis of insufflated specimens identified all 37 nodules, and 33 of those nodules were found to have tumor-free margins. The histopathological analysis revealed lung cancer in 30 of the nodules, all with tumor-free margins, and benign lesions in the seven remaining nodules. CONCLUSION: Postoperative CT of insufflated suspicious lung lesions provides real-time detection of pulmonary nodules and satisfactory assessment of tumor margins. This initial study shows that CT of insufflated lung lesions can be a valuable tool at centers where intraoperative histopathological analysis is unavailable.

Keywords: Tomography, X-ray computed; Thoracic surgery, video-assisted; Lung neoplasms/diagnostic imaging.