Gall bladder emptying in normal subjects--a data base for clinical cholescintigraphy

Area of Science:

• Nuclear Medicine
• Gastroenterology
• Diagnostic Imaging

Background:

• Assessing gall bladder motility disorders often involves biliary excretion scintigraphy.
• Interpreting these studies is challenging due to a lack of established normal response ranges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish normal ranges for gall bladder emptying after a cholagogic test meal.
• To provide data for comparative analysis in clinical gall bladder motility studies.

Main Methods:

• 41 gall bladder emptying studies were performed on 32 healthy subjects using 99Tcm-EHIDA and gamma camera scintigraphy.
• Gall bladder emptying was stimulated by ingesting 300 ml of milk.
• Gall bladder activity was measured over time to calculate ejection fractions.

Main Results:

• Gall bladder emptying occurred within 10 minutes in all men and 12/18 women (p = 0.02).
• Women exhibited significantly greater gall bladder ejection fractions (p < 0.05).
• Duplicate studies demonstrated high reproducibility (r = 0.959).

Conclusions:

• A reference range for normal gall bladder emptying response has been derived.
• This data assists in the interpretation of clinical scintigraphy studies for gall bladder function.
• The findings support the use of scintigraphy in diagnosing gall bladder motility disorders.