Common bile duct

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The gall-bladder and bile ducts laid open.

Bile, which is synthesized in the liver, is carried to the right and left hepatic ducts, which converge to form the common hepatic duct. There, it can either enter the superior end of the common bile duct and empty into the duodenum, or enter the cystic duct to be stored in the gallbladder.

The inferior end of the common bile duct merges with the large pancreatic duct ("duct of Wirsung") from the pancreas, into the duodenal ampulla. There, the two ducts are surrounded by the muscular hepatopancreatic sphincter (sphincter of Oddi) which if contracted, prevents bile from entering the small intestine.

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