Causes Of Gallbladder Wall Thickening Radiology

Going back through radiology journal articles older than the ones below 1970s 80s the same mechanisms are invoked repeatedly and other older articles are referenced.

Causes of gallbladder wall thickening radiology.

Diffuse thickening of the gallbladder wall can occur in a number of situations. Technical factors such as the angle of the. Thirty six patients with acute hepatitis and 25 normal volunteers were examined by ultrasound to determine the thickness of the gallbladder wall. Polypoid lesions of the gallbladder form an important group of conditions that are included in the differential diagnosis of focal gallbladder wall thickening and can be divided into neoplastic and non neoplastic groups figure 57 1.

Focal gallbladder wall thickening is often an imaging diagnosis and encompasses a wide variety of differential diagnoses. Historically a thick walled gallbladder has been regarded as proof of primary gallbladder disease and it is a well known hallmark feature of acute cholecystitis. Thickening of the gallbladder wall is a relatively frequent finding at diagnostic imaging studies. Thus for all non emergent exams a fasting period of 6 12 hours.

The findings of ischemia in closed loop obstruction are the same as in patients with other causes of mesenteric ischemia. Cholecystitis can occur in children without gallbladder wall thickening as well. Pseudothickening caused by the normal postprandial state of the contracted gallbladder is also extremely common 5. Gallbladder wall thickening can be caused by inflammatory benign and malignant etiologies.

Liver enzymes were measured at the time of the examination in all patients. The gallbladder wall may appear falsely thickened if fluid is trapped in the mesentery between the gallbladder and liver creating a halo effect or if fluid is otherwise surrounding the intraperitoneal gallbladder. Other speculated mechanisms of gallbladder wall thickening in the disease states above are increased portal venous pressure and generalized edema. Thickening of the gallbladder wall usually considered 3 mm is a non specific sign of various conditions.

Enhancement of the bowel in ischemia can be normal increased due to reperfusion or there can be lack of enhancement like in this case. Ten were excluded since they had other diseases which could lead to wall thickening.