Differentiation of benign from malignant induced ascites by measuring gallbladder wall thickness.

INTRODUCTION There are multiple causes for ascites and conventional diagnostic method for most of them is paracentesis. This method is invasive and time consuming. The aim of this study is to survey the reliability of measuring gallbladder wall thickness to discriminate between cirrhotic and malignant ascites. MATERIALS AND METHODS In our study we measured the gallbladder wall thickness by ultrasonography in 100 consecutive patients with portal hypertension induced ascites and in 100 consecutive patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis induced ascites. RESULTS The mean Gallbladder wall thickness was 3.94±0.69 mm in cirrhotic patients and 2.26±0.62 mm in patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis. Gallbladder wall thickening in cirrhotic patients was significantly more compared to patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis (p-value=0.001). CONCLUSION This study shows that the thickened gallbladder wall in patients with ascites is highly predictive for diagnosis of portal hypertension induced ascites.