An evaluation of three-dimensional ultrasonography for the measurement of gallbladder volume.
OBJECTIVE
Various three-dimensional ultrasonography systems have been developed. We estimated the accuracy of a three-dimensional ultrasonography system for measuring gallbladder volume and compared the results to the sum-of-cylinders method.


METHODS
In an in vitro study, 10 balloons of various shapes, sized 5-68 mL were scanned by real-time ultrasonography. In an in vivo study, we evaluated the gallbladder emptying of 14 healthy male volunteers after ingestion of two raw egg yolks. In both studies, volume measurement was performed by the three-dimensional ultrasonography method and the sum-of-cylinders method.


RESULTS
With the three-dimensional ultrasonography method, the mean difference between the measured volume and the true volume and the limits of agreement were smaller than those of the sum-of-cylinders method. Gallbladder volumes did not differ significantly with both ultrasound methods.


CONCLUSIONS
The three-dimensional ultrasonography method accurately determined gallbladder volumes.
Hashimoto
S
S
Second Department of Internal Medicine, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.
Goto
H
H
Hirooka
Y
Y
Itoh
A
A
Ishiguro
Y
Y
Kojima
S
S
Hirai
T
T
Hayakawa
T
T
Naitoh
Y
Y
D000328:Adult; D004867:Equipment Design; D005704:Gallbladder / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D016473:Gallbladder Emptying / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D012016:Reference Values; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000295:instrumentation*