The diagnosis of acute gallbladder disease by technetium-99m-labelled HIDA hepatobiliary scanning

A series of 105 patients with upper abdominal pain suggestive of biliary colic who had hepatobiliary scans within 48 h of admission to hospital is presented. Fifty of the 65 patients with abnormal scans had operative treatment and gallbladder pathology was found in every case. Fourteen of these patients had hepatobiliary scans which also showed delayed excretion of tracer into the duodenum, and of these, 12 were found to have common bile duct stones and one a stricture of the distal end of the common bile duct. Of the 40 patients who had normal scans, 7 were found to have gallstones on further investigation. In these patients abnormal hepatobiliary scans have shown a 100 per cent correlation with gallbladder disease. We suggest that this is the investigation of choice for the surgeon contemplating early cholecystectomy on patients with suspected acute gallbladder disease.