title: Gallbladder perforation. An imaging analysis.
abstract: We evaluated the radiologic studies of 23 patients with surgically or autopsy-documented gallbladder perforation. Extravasation was shown by cholescintigraphy and cholangiography in seven patients and corresponded to free perforation or large pericholecystic loculation. In 16 patients, ultrasonography and computed tomography detected fluid and abscesses outside the gallbladder ranging from 1 to 2 mm pericholecystic fluid collections to large phlegmonous masses. A right, upper-quadrant mass on plain films and scattered calcification in this area suggested perforation. Gallbladder perforation could be diagnosed or suspected preoperatively in ten patients and antemortem in 22 of 23 individuals. This rate of recognition, higher than previously reported, may be ascribed in part to improvements in biliary imaging.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06510.
authors.forename: B N
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Siskind
authors.forename: H B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Hawkins
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Cinti
authors.forename: R K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Zeman
authors.forename: M I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Burrell
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005704:Gallbladder / Q000293:injuries; D005705:Gallbladder Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011859:Radiography; D012421:Rupture; D012422:Rupture, Spontaneous; D014463:Ultrasonography