1. The biliary excretion of total bilirubin and bile acids, and the fate of tracer doses of radioactive sulphated and non-sulphated bile acids, were studied in patients with percutaneous transhepatic bile drainage.
2. Non-sulphated bile acids were excreted in bile early after biliary decompression, and the serum total 3α-hydroxy bile acid concentrations fell rapidly to normal. Biliary bilirubin excretion was both less than and delayed compared with that of bile acids, and the serum bilirubin concentration fell more slowly.
3. The serum disappearance of [3H]chenodeoxycholate-3-sulphate was slower than that of [14C]glycocholate in all patients with bile drainage, the difference being more marked in the jaundiced patients.
4. The radioactive sulphated bile acids were recovered predominantly in the urine of the jaundiced patients. In contrast [14C]glycocholate was excreted almost exclusively in bile. In an anicteric patient, radioactive sulphated bile acid disappeared from the serum more quickly, and biliary recovery exceeded that in the urine.
5. The studies demonstrate the differences in handling of total bilirubin, and sulphated and non-sulphated bile acids in man after the relief of bile duct obstruction. The biliary excretion of radioactive labelled sulphated bile acids is low for at least 1 week after biliary drainage, but later becomes the predominant route for excretion in the anicteric patient.
