Impaired gallbladder function in spinal cord injury on quantitative Tc-99m DISIDA cholescintigraphy.
BACKGROUND
Patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) have increased prevalences of gallstones and acute acalculous cholecystitis. A possible explanation for the increased prevalence of gallstone disease in SCI patients is decreased gallbladder motility causing gallbladder stasis, a known risk factor for gallstone disease. We investigated gallbladder function in SCI.


METHODS
Twenty-five normal control subjects and 50 SCI patients were included in this study. Gallbladder function was measured by technium 99m-labeled imino-diacetic acid analogue (Tc-99m DISIDA) cholescintigraphy and represented by the filling fraction (FF) and the ejection fraction (EF). The SCI patients were assigned to subgroups: old versus young, female versus male, high- versus low-level injury, and long versus short injury duration.


RESULTS
Forty-two percent of SCI patients had abnormal FFs and 54% of SCI patients had abnormal EFs. Significantly decreased FF and EF values were found in SCI patients, especially in those who were female and had high-level injuries.


CONCLUSIONS
With the use of quantitative Tc-99m DISIDA cholescintigraphy, we found that SCI can significantly impair gallbladder function.
Fong
Y C
YC
Department of Orthopedics, China Medical College Hospital, No. 2 Yuh-Der Road, Taichung 404, Taiwan.
Hsu
H C
HC
Sun
S S
SS
Kao
A
A
Lin
C C
CC
Lee
C C
CC
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005704:Gallbladder / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D016473:Gallbladder Emptying; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D019785:Technetium Tc 99m Disofenin
D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019785:Technetium Tc 99m Disofenin