Rapid and accurate diagnosis of acute cholecystitis with 99mTc-HIDA cholescintigraphy

Technetium-99m dimethyl acetanilide iminodiacetic acid (HIDA) cholescintigraphy was performed on 90 patients with suspected acute cholecystitis. Visualization of the gallbladder established patency of the cystic duct and excluded the diagnosis of acute cholecystitis in 50 of 52 patients. Nonvisualization of the gallbladder with visualization of the common bile duct was diagnostic of acute cholecystitis in 38 patients, all subsequently proven at surgery. The observed accuracy of this procedure is 98% and specificity is 100%. The false negative rate is 5% and false positive rate is zero. Technetium-99m-HIDA has many advantages which make it the procedure of choice in evaluating a patient for suspected acute cholecystitis. It is a rapid, simple, safe examination which provides functional as well as anatomic information about the hepatobiliary system in individuals with a serum bilirubin level up to 8 mg/100 ml.