Items tagged “gallbladder”

Strawberry gallbladder refers to the surface appearance (not shape) of the mucosa of the gallbladder due to multiple small collections of triglycerides and cholesterol esters within the lamina propria of the gallbladder wall (gallbladder wall cholesterolosis).  Strawberry gallbladder represents...

Adenomyomatosis of the gallbladder is a hyperplastic cholecystosis of the gallbladder wall. It is a relatively common and benign cause of diffuse or focal gallbladder wall thickening, most easily seen on ultrasound and MRI.  Epidemiology Adenomyomatosis is relatively common, found in ~9% of al...

Gallbladder polyps are commonly occurring elevated lesions on the mucosal surface of the gallbladder. The vast majority are benign. They are best characterized on ultrasound as a non-shadowing endophytic growth into the gallbladder lumen.  Epidemiology Gallbladder polyps are relatively frequen...

The pearl necklace sign occurs in adenomyomatosis of the gallbladder, on both oral cholecystograms and MRCP. It represents the contrast/fluid-filled intramural mucosal diverticula (Rokitansky-Aschoff sinuses); lined up, these are reminiscent of pearls on a necklace. It is synonymous with the CT ...

Mirizzi syndrome refers to an uncommon phenomenon that results in extrinsic compression of an extrahepatic biliary duct from one or more calculi within the cystic duct or gallbladder. It is a functional hepatic syndrome but can often present with biliary duct dilatation and can mimic other hepat...

Diffuse thickening of the gallbladder wall can occur in a number of situations: cholecystitis acute cholecystitis chronic cholecystitis gallbladder empyema 7 xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis 11 acalculous cholecystitis 11 postprandial physiological state (pseudothickening) gallbladder o...

The gallbladder and extrahepatic bile ducts play host to a surprisingly large number of benign tumors and tumor-like lesions which may be visible on imaging. In the gallbladder, most of them are detected incidentally, whereas in the bile ducts they are usually found in symptomatic patients (obst...

In most instances predicting benign versus malignant histology of a gallbladder polyp based purely on imaging features is not possible. However, a number of features are helpful in helping to decide the management of a gallbladder polyp.  Benign features size polyps that are less than 5 mm in...