Gallbladder varices: a case report and review of the literature

We present an 18 year old woman suffering from cavernous transformation of the portal vein, hypersplenism and bleeding esophageal varices. Color flow Doppler sonography showed gallbladder wall varices. A review of the literature, revealed 76 cases of gallbladder varices. Mostly, these were associated with portal vein occlusion and rarely with hemobilia. The color flow Doppler was the gold standard procedure for the diagnosis, although angiography, computerized tomography and magnetic resonance had also been reported. Surgeons should be aware of this finding since these varices can be a source of major blood loss.