Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 17, 2026
Laparoscopic Common Bile Duct Exploration Followed by Primary Suture Using a Modified Bile Duct Incision
Published on: May 2, 2025
[Gallbladder duplication--laparoscopic cholecystectomy 17 years after open cholecystectomy]
A Reinisch1, L Brandt, K-H Fuchs
1Klinik für Allgemein-, Visceral-, Gefäss- und Thoraxchirurgie, Markus-Krankenhaus, Frankfurt am Main, Deutschland. alexander.reinisch@fdk.info
Introduction:
Duplication of the gallbladder is a rare congenital anomaly. An incidence of 2.5:10,000 has been published in autoptic studies.
Methods:
We carried out an analysis of the published case reports of the last 30 years to examine those cases in which an accessory gallbladder was pre- or intraoperatively detected or missed and to evaluate the implications of the time of diagnosis of the duplication on the surgical therapy.
Results:
28 case reports were analysed. If the duplication of the gallbladder was recognised pre-operatively or during operation, both gallbladders could be removed via laparoscopy in 80 % of the cases. Missing the second gallbladder can lead to persisting symptoms, postoperative complications as well as a recrudescence of the cholecystolithiasis with following reoperation. If a reoperation for a missed second gallbladder was necessary, only 14.3 % of these operations could be performed via laparoscopy.
Case Report:
We report the case of a missed gall-bladder duplication with an acute cholecystitis causing a reoperation 17 years after the initial operation. A laparoscopic cholecystectomy was possible even though the initial operation was performed through open surgery.
Conclusion:
If recognised in preoperative examinations or during surgery a laparoscopic cholecystectomy of both gallbladders is possible in the majority of cases with duplicated gallbladder.
