ULTRASOUND OF THE NORMAL GALLBLADDER WALL THICKNESS

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

The most frequent gall bladder wall abnormally detected by sonography is diffuse thickening, which is diagnosed when the wall thickness is greater than 3 mm thick. Common causes of abnormal wall thickens are acute Cholecystitis & chronic Cholecystitis, hepatic dysfunction, congestive heart failure & pancreatitis etc.

OBJECTIVES:

The objective of this study is to review the abdominal ultrasound results of 100 patients referred with symptoms suggestive of GB disease. To see the cause of abnormal gall bladder wall thickness & its significance as ultrasonic diagnostic signs in acute Cholecystitis.

FINDINGS:

In this study the common causes of abnormal gall bladder thickens was found to be acute Cholecystitis & all patients with acute Cholecystitis had abnormal GB wall thickens (100%) (The highest value of  wall thickness means 5-7 mm). other causes of abnormal wall thickness were liver cirrhosis. Chronic Calcular Cholecystitis & acute pancreatitis.

CONCLUSION:

The normal GB wall thickness in this study was not significantly different from the standard. The common cause of abnormal wall thickness was found to be acute Cholecystitis. Other secondary ultrasonic signs in the patient with suspected acute Cholecystitis , the presence of gallstones +  GB wall thickness or +ve Murphy's sign has a high predictive value. Progressive GB wall thickening detected on serial US, appear to be the most reliable sign of acute Calcular Cholecystitis.