Agenesis of the Gallbladder

Kim, Hyung Soo; Ahn, Hyo Choon; Kang, Koo Jeong; Lim, Tae Jin

Abstract

Congenital absence of the gallbladder is a rare anomaly and an interesting subject. The overall incidence of gallbladder agenesis is said to approximately 0.035% to 0.065%. It is extremely difficult to make the correct diagnosis of gallbladder agenesis preoperatively in symptomatic patients because its clinical and radiological features are like those of cholecystitis, cholelithiasis, or choledocholithiasis in patients with anatomically normal biliary tracts. Gallbladder agenesis is suspected when the surgeon or the pathologist has failed to identify the gallbladder in its usual position but ectopic location or necrosis of the gallbladder from any causes should be ruled out. Recently, two cases of gallbladder agenesis were encountered in adult patients. We summarize our experience and give a brief review of the literature.