Abid Halim, Ijaz Ahmad, Javed Iqbal, Zahid Khan.
The presentation and causes of obstructive jaundice in patients presenting to a tertiary care hospital.
J Med Sci Jan ;19(2):66-9.

Objective: The objective was to find the presentation and causes of obstructive jaundice among patients in our setup. Material and Methods: This cross sectional descriptive study included a total of 70 patients. Their age, gender and cause of obstructive jaundice were noted on a standardized proforma and analyzed on SPSS 10. Results: A total of 70 patients were studied. The mean age of males and females was 55.9 years ± 18.8 SD and 50.3 years ± 12.5 SD respectively. All patients presented with jaundice and pruritus while the history of clay colored stools, anorexia, nausea, vomiting and weight loss were 92.3%, 88.6%, 97.14%, 84.3% and 88.2% respectively. The cause was benign in 38.57% and malignant in 61.43% patients. Malignant causes were more frequently observed in female patients than male (65.11% vs. 34.88%). The most common benign cause was choledocholithiasis (28.57%). Cholangiocarcinoma (28.57%) was the most common malignant cause of obstructive jaundice. In 83.72% patients with obstructive jaundice due to malignancy, the disease was in the advanced stage and the growth unresectable. Conclusion: Malignant causes of obstructive jaundice are more common than benign causes.

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