ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical value of preoperative biliary drainage in patients with malignant obstructive jaundice and its influence on postoperative complications.MethodsThis study retrospectively analyzed patients from June 2006 to June 2018 at Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery of Gaozhou People’s Hospital, Guangdong Medical University, who had underwent pancreaticoduodenal surgery. In this study, bilirubin was divided into bilirubin normal group and bilirubin abnormal group according to the level of bilirubin, then the bilirubin abnormal group was divided into non-drainage group and drainage group. The main observation indexes were the incidence of complications and their severity.ResultsThere was no difference in intraoperative blood loss, operative time, and postoperative hospitalization among the three groups (P>0.05), but there was significant difference among the three groups on incidence of bile leakage, pulmonary infection, and the comprehensive complication index (CCI) value (P<0.05). The trend of clotting time, serum albumin, and hemoglobin in the bilirubin normal group, non-drainage group, and drainage group after operation were basically the same. The transaminase was recovered after operation in the bilirubin normal group and the drainage group, which were better than that of the non-drainage group within 7 days .ConclusionsThe preoperative biliary drainage in patients with malignant obstructive jaundice complicated with hyperbilirubinemia, cholangitis, and hepatic dysfunction do not significantly improve the incidence of complications, but could significantly improve the severity of the overall complication.