Role of sonography in the diagnosis of gallbladder perforation.
OBJECTIVE
Gallbladder perforation is a dreaded complication of acute cholecystitis that is associated with a high mortality rate. Early detection of gallbladder perforation reduces the associated mortality and morbidity rates. The purpose of this study was to highlight the role of sonography in the diagnosis of gallbladder perforation and to compare the diagnostic accuracy of sonography with that of CT.


METHODS
We retrospectively evaluated the sonographic and CT findings in surgically proven cases of gallbladder perforation.


RESULTS
In 18 of 23 cases, both sonography and CT had been performed; in the other 5 cases, only sonography had been performed. Sonography helped to diagnose the defect in the gallbladder wall and gallbladder perforation in 16 (70%) of 23 patients. In the 18 cases in which both sonography and CT had been performed, sonography showed the wall defect in 11 cases (61%), whereas CT was diagnostic in 14 cases (78%). The difference between sonography and CT in the ability to visualize a defect in the gallbladder wall was not statistically significant.


CONCLUSIONS
Sonography is useful for diagnosing gallbladder perforation and detecting the defect in the gallbladder wall. We believe that sonography should be the first-line imaging modality for evaluating the patients in these cases.
Department of Radiodiagnosis and Imaging, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh 160012, India.
Bimal P
BP
Sood
Naveen
N
Kalra
Sanjay
S
Gupta
Ravinder
R
Sidhu
Madhu
M
Gulati
Niranjan
N
Khandelwal
Sudha
S
Suri
D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D002769:Cholelithiasis / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D005705:Gallbladder Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012422:Rupture, Spontaneous; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000592:standards*