If a blockage is found, it may be followed by a surgical procedure called percutaneous biliary drainage. A tiny cut is made into the skin over the liver, and a small tube called a drain is placed into the blocked bile duct to keep it open. The bile can then drain away into a bag outside your body. A few days later, the drain will be removed and replaced by a small tube, called a stent. This will allow the bile to drain internally, in the normal way.

The most common complications are bleeding or a leak of bile internally, and affect between three and five patients in 100.