Gallbladder Polyps: Rare Lesions in Childhood

Unlike adults, gallbladder polyps (GPs) are rare in childhood. The aim of this study was to evaluate patients with a GP diagnosis.

Patients who were diagnosed with GP via ultrasonography from October 2012 to October 2017 were retrospectively evaluated in terms of sociodemographic characteristics and laboratory findings.

The study included 19 patients diagnosed with GP and followed up in our department. The patients comprised 14 (73.6%) girls with a mean age of 13.9 ± 4.1 years and a mean follow-up period of 10.2 ± 5.4 months (range, 3-26 months). The most common presenting symptom of the patients (n = 15, 78.9%) for ultrasonography was abdominal pain without biliary symptoms. Location of the polyps was in the corpus in 55% of patients, and either in the fundus (20%) or the neck of the gallbladder (25%). The average diameter of the polyps was 4.5 ± 1.6 mm (range, 2-9 mm). Multiple polyps were observed in 3 patients. No significant change in the number or size of polyps was noted at the end of the follow-up periods. Cholecystectomy was applied to 1 patient who had >5 polyps with a rapid increase in size, and the pathology report was hamartomatous polyp. There was no remarkable change in the clinical or laboratory findings of other patients during the follow-up period.

In this study, GPs could be seen in young children as young as 16 months of age and ultrasonography is sufficient for follow-up in stable and asymptomatic patients.