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Sonographic findings in cases of missed gallstones
Author(s) -
Chintapalli Kedar N.,
Ghiatas Abraham A.,
Chopra Shailendra,
Escobar Beatrice,
Esola Christine C.,
Dodd Gerald D.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of clinical ultrasound
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.272
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1097-0096
pISSN - 0091-2751
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0096(199903/04)27:3<117::aid-jcu3>3.0.co;2-u
Subject(s) - gallstones , medicine , gallbladder , radiology , cholecystectomy , general surgery , gastroenterology
Purpose We retrospectively evaluated sonographic findings in 946 cases of gallstones to determine whether the false‐negative rate for gallstone detection by sonography has decreased as a result of technologic advances over the past 15 years. Methods We reviewed preoperative sonographic reports, operative notes, and pathologic reports for 614 women and 332 men (ages 22–78 years) seen over a 2.5‐year period and compared sonographic findings with surgical pathologic findings after cholecystectomy. Sonograms for patients whose gallstones were missed on sonography were reviewed by 3 board‐certified radiologists. Results Preoperative sonography of the gallbladder accurately predicted the presence of gallstones in 934 cases (98.7%). Gallstones were not identified by sonography in the remaining 12 cases. In those cases, sonography revealed polyps in 5, sludge in 5, sludge plus a polyp in 1, and neither stones nor polyps in 1. Thus, the false‐negative rate was 1.3%. Conclusions Despite improvements in sonographic technology, detection of small gallstones remains difficult in some cases. Adherent gallstones can mimic gallbladder polyps. Our false‐negative rate for detection of gallstones was no different from that in earlier studies. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound 27:117–121, 1999.