Re: I just had a thought. . .

I had more or less the same thougts as you, Paulette. Just this morning I have gone through some medical articles from medical journals, where the treatment of intrahepatic stones is described (well I've posted some of them recently.... if anyone is interested, look at "all Elisabeth's messages and look for "Italians", "French", "Chinese" and "Americans".
I've founde a new one this morning, the link is below....

The abstract is here:
 
J Endourol. 2002 Jun;16(5):293-7.
Percutaneous hepatolithotomy: the Northwestern University experience.

Nadler RB, Rubenstein JN, Kim SC, Weiser AC, Lohr MN, Vogelzang RL, Parsons WG.

Department of Urology, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, Illinois, USA. r-nadler@northwestern.edu

Obstruction of intrahepatic ducts by calculi can lead to abdominal pain, cholestasis, abscesses, and Cholangitis . Patients with stones recalcitrant to extraction using endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) have traditionally been referred to a general surgeon for open stone extraction or hepatic lobectomy despite its great potential morbidity. Borrowing techniques, instrumentation, and experience in performing percutaneous nephrolithotomy, we describe our experience with percutaneous hepatolithotomy (PHL), a minimally invasive, safe, and effective alternative to open surgery for recalcitrant biliary stones.

Well - I still prefere the OO/grapefruit-mixture to "potential morbidity"....
Elisabeth

Percutaneous hepatolithotomy: the Northwestern University experience.