Agenesis of the Gallbladder

Joo, Sun Hyung; Kim, Bum Soo; Choi, Sung Il; Joo, Kwang Ro; Yoo, Eun Hee

Abstract

Gallbladder agenesis is a rare congenital biliary anomaly that may be associated with other biliary and extrabiliary congenital anomalies. Awareness of this condition is important because many of these patients may have vague biliary symptoms that lead to unnecessary operations. We treated a 46-year-old woman who was diagnosed with gallbladder agenesis during performance of gynecologic laparoscopic surgery. The gallbladder was not visualized by the preoperative abdominal ultrasonography, the abdominal computed tomography and the MRCP. The hepatobiliary scan revealed non-visualization of the gallbladder. Based on these imaging studies, there was a high suspicion of a sclero-atrophic gallbladder or agenesis of the gallbladder. At surgery, we carefully examined the porta hepatis and found that the gallbladder was absent. The operation involved only examination with a laparoscope. The patient has remained well and asymptomatic. It is extremely difficult to diagnose gallbladder agenesis in clinical settings; the identification of gallbladder agenesis is often an incidental finding. For cases where the gallbladder is not visualized preoperatively, a diagnostic laparoscopy can be an alternative diagnostic tool prior to performing laparotomy.