Diameter of the Common Bile Duct (CBD) Re: Evidence that liver flushing is a scam

What has been said:

That aside, let us take the claim as a possible truth. I'm sure that 8 mm maximum diameter of the bile duct is an average number, so some people could pass larger than this.

No, actually that is the maximum.  The average is 2-4mm.

Furthermore, where, when and how were these maximums determined, do you know any sources on this?

Off hand I cannot tell you where I found it since that was quite a while ago.  But I have quite a library on science and medicine at home and I do a ton of research from Medline and other medical sources, both mainstream and alternative, all the time.  So again I could not tell you off hand where that information is....

Diameter of the Common Bile Duct

From Stritch School of Medicine/Loyola University - Medical Education  http://www.meddean.luc.edu/lumen/MedEd/orfpath/bilduc2.htm

Fig 13 - COMMON BILE DUCT(CHOLEDOCUS)
...Can be divided in sopraduodenal,retroduodenal,pancreatic and intraduodenal segments.It is 1.5 -5.0 cm long, 1 mm thick and measures from 0.4 to 1.2 cm in diameter...

4 - 12 mm in diameter  (outer circumference = diameter x pi (3.14), so outer circumference would equal 12.56 - 37.68 mm (up to 1.48")

***

From the International Journal of Gastroenterology, Volume 35, No. 2., 1986  http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?Doi=199356

The common bile duct (CBD) pressure was determined in 57 patients before endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC) and related to the diameter of the CBD and the common hepatic duct (CHD). We found that despite a weak overall positive correlation in the individual patient, CBD or CHD diameters do not correlate with CBD pressure. In patients without extrahepatic cholestasis and normal CBD pressure, both CBD and CHD diameters were measured in a wide range between 5 and 32 mm.

5 - 32 mm in diameter  (outer circumference = diameter x pi (3.14), so outer circumference would equal 15.7 - 100.48 mm (up to 3.96")

***

From The Annals of Surgery, V 165 (3), March 1967 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1617512/

Summary

Autopsy studies were made on 100 selected
subjects whose ages ranged from 15
to 102 years and who had intact biliary
tracts.
The outer diameters and inner circumferences
of the ducts averaged 7.39 and
14.99 mm., respectively.

So, the average of these subjects was a 7.39mm diameter

***

Oulu University; Review of the Literature Imaging of biliary carcinoma, fistula and primary sclerosing cholangitis and percutaneous metallic stenting in malignant biliary obstruction   Chapter 2; 2.1. Anatomy and function of the biliary tract

The common bile duct varies from 5 to 17 cm in length, and its diameter varies from 0.3 to 1.5 cm and may become markedly distended by biliary obstruction.

(outer circumference = diameter x pi (3.14), so outer circumference would equal 9.42 - 147.1 mm (up to 1.85")

***

So, regarding this:

No, actually that is the maximum.  The average is 2-4mm.

Furthermore, where, when and how were these maximums determined, do you know any sources on this?

Off hand I cannot tell you where I found it since that was quite a while ago.  But I have quite a library on science and medicine at home and I do a ton of research from Medline and other medical sources, both mainstream and alternative, all the time.  So again I could not tell you off hand where that information is.  But I have never seen any evidence anywhere that the bile ducts can expand to 25mm, which is the size of some of the fecal soap stones people have claimed to be gallstones.

We can clearly see (from very valid sources, unlike someone remembering what they'd read from 'wherever' quite a while ago), that the average diameter of the CBD is NOT "actually" 2-4mm. 

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