Effect of intravenous glucagon on intraoperative cholangiography

Intravenous glucagon has been advocated as a useful adjunct to intraoperative cholangiography. Thirty patients scheduled for elective cholecystectomy were entered into a prospective, randomized, double-blind study to test the effects of glucagon on intraoperative cholangiography. All patients randomly received either glucagon or normal saline (control group) and had two cholangiograms taken at one and five minutes after injection during the course of the cholecystectomy. The films were scored in a blinded fashion by both radiologists and the operating surgeon, and scores were compared between the control subjects and the study group. There was no significant statistical improvement in cholangiograms obtained after glucagon injection (alpha = .05).