[The frequency of pathological ultrasonographic findings of the gallbladder in patients with infectious diseases].

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: The objective of our study was to establish, through retrospective analysis of sonographic findings obtained by portable ultrasound devices, the frequency of pathological findings of the gallbladder and common bile duct in a randomized group of patients with infectious diseases. MATERIAL AND METHODS: During five years (January 1, 2000 - December 31, 2004), gallbladder and common bile duct were examined by ultrasonography in 2691 adult patients (1440 males and 1251 females), mean age 48 +/- 17 years, ranging from 17 to 92 years at the Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases in Belgrade. The examination included the measurement of size and shape of the gallbladder, its wall and lumen, as well as measurement of caliber and content of the common bile duct. Conventional portable ultrasound devices, ALOKA SSD-500 and SSD-1000 (B-mod) with convex 3.5 and 5 MHz probes were used. RESULTS: The cholecyst was normal in size (<120 x 50 mm) in 2164 (80.4%), and enlarged in 65 (2.4%) patients. The gallbladder was surgically removed in 163 (6.1%) patients, it was pseudoseptal in 141 (5.2%) and invisible in 44 (1.6%) patients. The gallbladder wall was normal in 2031 (75.5%), thickened in 259 (9.6%) and edematous in 173 (6.4%). Gallbladder calculosis was present in 310 (11.5%), and choledocholithiasis in 13 (0.5%) patients. CONCLUSION: Development of morphological abnormalities of the gallbladder and common bile duct was frequent in non-selected patients with infectious diseases. The majority of them may be detected by portable ultrasound devices, which makes them rather applicable for large clinical-epidemiological studies.