Gallbladder and cystic duct absence. An infrequent malformation in laparoscopic surgery

Gallbladder absence is an infrequent anomaly normally accompanied by lack of the cystic duct. Of unknown etiology, in general it is accepted to be a congenital malformation. A male patient (age 59) diagnosed with nonfunctional symptomatic scleroatrophic gallbladder by echography and ERCP was operated on using a laparoscopic approach. Gallbladder and cystic absence was diagnosed during the procedure. A new case of gallbladder and cystic duct absence, diagnosed by laparoscopy, is presented. This type of extrahepatic bile duct malformation is quite rare, but it must be taken into account due to the generalization of laparoscopic surgery in biliar pathology because of the high risk of serious lesions to the hepatocholedochal system.