Gallbladder disease in cystic fibrosis

In 84 consecutive patients with cystic fibrosis, oral cholecystography was abnormal in 39 (46.4%). The incidence of abnormal cholecystograms increased with patient age. The 26 patients with a nonvisualized gallbladder following double-dosage oral cholecystography were evaluated with intravenous cholangiography; 19 (70.3%) of these were abnormal. Ten patients were found to have calculi, an incidence of 11.9%. Awareness of the high incidence of cholecystographic abnormalities and calculi should be helpful in the evaluation of patients with cystic fibrosis, particularly since symptoms of abdominal pain are frequent in such patients and may lead to radiographic investigations.