Utility of sonographic gallbladder wall patterns in differentiating malignant from cirrhotic ascites.
Thirty-one patients with ascites associated with malignancy and 49 patients with cirrhotic ascites were enrolled in a sonographic study of the gallbladder wall. Three gallbladder wall patterns were recognized: A, single-layered, nonthickened wall; B, single-layered, thickened wall; and C, double-layered, thickened wall. Pattern A was found more frequently in patients with malignant ascites, while patterns B and C were detected more frequently in patients with cirrhotic ascites. If "nonthickened gallbladder wall" is used as a criterion for prediction of malignant ascites, the sensitivity is 80.6% and the specificity 93.9%. This suggests that sonographic examination of the gallbladder wall is useful in the differentiation of malignant from cirrhotic ascites.
Huang
Y S
YS
Department of Medicine, Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Lee
S D
SD
Wu
J C
JC
Wang
S S
SS
Lin
H C
HC
Tsai
Y T
YT
D001201:Ascites / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005704:Gallbladder / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010534:Peritoneal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012016:Reference Values; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000032:analysis; D014463:Ultrasonography
D012709:Serum Albumin