The development of cholecystography: the first fifty years

Visualization of the gallbladder by x-ray was first achieved in 1923 by the intravenous introduction into the body of a halogenated compound which was excreted by the liver into the bile ducts and gallbladder [1--4]. This was the first time that visualization of an organ had been accomplished by introducing a substance into the body and obtaining a roentgenogram after the substance had been metabolized and localized primarily in one organ. Previously, visualization of an organ had been achieved only by introducing a substance opaque to the x-ray directly into the lumen and obtaining a roentgenogram to outline its inner wall. By 1925 visualization of the gallbladder had also been accomplished by the oral administration of halogenated compounds [5,6]. The drugs employed for intravenous and oral cholecystography had been synthesized specifically for that purpose based on earlier experimental work of other investigators. The following account describes in detail the experimental background of cholecystography, its origin, and its development and use during the ensuing fifty years.