Asymmetric gallbladder contraction following cholecystokinin hepatobiliary imaging

Three patients are presented with abnormal hepatobiliary images. A slow infusion of the terminal octapeptide of cholecystokinin caused asymmetric contraction in all three. Two of the patients displayed a bilobate appearance of the gallbladder. In one of the patients, there were typical changes associated with adenomyomatosis by other imaging modalities. The third patient showed good contraction of the fundus of the gallbladder but not of the proximal segment. In two of the patients, the global ejection fraction was considered to be normal. The asymmetrical contraction under the stimulus of cholecystokinin may be an important indicator of biliary dysfunction despite a normal ejection fraction.