title: Utility of sonographic gallbladder wall patterns in differentiating malignant from cirrhotic ascites.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Y S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Y T
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Tsai
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D012709:Serum Albumin