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- Unusual Feline Jaundice: Duodenal Foreign Body Causing Biliary Obstruction
Unusual Feline Jaundice: Duodenal Foreign Body Causing Biliary Obstruction
Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery Open Reports 2025
Obi Veterinary Education
October 25, 2025
Hyunwook Myung, Ilyong Yun, Jonghyop Lee
Background
Extrahepatic biliary obstruction (EHBO) is rare in cats but clinically significant, with common causes including cholangitis, pancreatitis, neoplasia, and cholelithiasis. Mechanical causes such as duodenal foreign body impaction are exceedingly uncommon. Obstruction can lead to cholestasis, hepatocellular damage, and secondary pancreatitis. Imaging, particularly ultrasonography and CT, plays a crucial role in diagnosis.
Methods
A 1-year-old spayed female British Shorthair cat presented with 5 days of vomiting and anorexia. Examination revealed icterus, and biochemistry confirmed hyperbilirubinemia and elevated liver enzymes. Abdominal ultrasound and contrast-enhanced CT were performed, identifying a doughnut-shaped duodenal foreign body causing extraluminal compression of the bile duct. The cat underwent exploratory laparotomy and enterotomy for removal of the object.
Results
Ultrasound showed a dilated bile duct (4 mm) and a hyperechoic duodenal mass, while CT confirmed a 1.9 cm foreign body compressing the major duodenal papilla. Surgery removed the object without the need for choledochotomy. Postoperatively, bilirubin normalized within 48 hours, and the cat recovered uneventfully, with resolution of all clinical and biochemical abnormalities.
Limitations
This is a single case report; therefore, conclusions about general management or prognosis are limited. While CT proved invaluable, its use may be restricted in practice due to availability and cost. The long-term outcome beyond the immediate postoperative period was not detailed.
Conclusions
This case highlights a rare, surgically treatable cause of feline EHBO due to extramural duodenal compression by a foreign body. Advanced imaging was essential for accurate diagnosis and surgical planning, allowing for minimally invasive enterotomy instead of biliary tract incision. Prompt surgical removal resulted in full recovery, demonstrating that mechanical EHBO, though uncommon, should be considered in jaundiced cats with biliary dilation.
Preoperative imaging findings in a cat with extrahepatic biliary obstruction: (a) abdominal ultrasonography showing a dilated common bile duct measuring 4 mm in diameter (arrow); (b) hyperechoic, duodenal foreign body (arrowhead) detected at the level of the major duodenal papilla; (c) axial contrast-enhanced CT image showing extraluminal compression of the dilated common bile duct (arrow) caused by a duodenal foreign body (arrowhead); and (d) coronal CT image depicting a doughnut-shaped object (arrowhead) lodged in the proximal descending duodenum
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