Inflamed pericholecystic fat: color Doppler flow imaging and clinical features.
OBJECTIVE
To analyze the color Doppler flow imaging features and clinical importance of inflamed pericholecystic fat.


METHODS
Forty patients with surgically proved right upper quadrant inflammatory lesions in the gallbladder or the pericholecystic space underwent color Doppler sonography (CDS). Findings in the pericholecystic space were correlated with those at computed tomography (CT) in four patients and with surgical findings in 40 patients.


RESULTS
CDS performed in 12 (30%) of the 40 patients demonstrated echogenic pericholecystic masses greater than 1 cm in diameter that contained internal vascularity. CT in four patients and surgical findings in all 12 patients demonstrated inflamed fat adherent to the gallbladder.


CONCLUSIONS
Identification with CDS of inflamed pericholecystic fat may provide preoperative information that could be pertinent in the decision to perform open or laparoscopic cholecystectomy in patients with acute cholecystitis.
Department of Radiology, Stanford University Medical Center, CA 94305.
C H
CH
McDonnell
R B
RB
Jeffrey
M A
MA
Vierra
D000208:Acute Disease; D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002764:Cholecystitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color