BACKGROUND Patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) have an increased prevalence of gallstones. AIMS To study prospectively the incidence of gallstones and gall bladder contractility in patients with SCI. PATIENTS AND METHODS Thirty six consecutive patients with SCI were studied: 18 patients with SCI above thoracic 10 neuronal segment (> T10) and 18 patients with SCI below T10 (< T10). An equ...

OBJECTIVE To provide reference ranges of the fetal gall bladder in the Korean population. MATERIALS AND METHODS Fetal gall bladder development was evaluated in well-dated, non-anomalous fetuses in the Korean population between February and April 2003 and the visualization rate and reference values were determined from the obtained data. RESULTS The visualization rate of the fetal gall bladd...

We have carried out overnight measurements of hepatic secretion rate and duodenal output of biliary lipids using a duodenal perfusion technique. We correlated these measurements with the fasting state mass of biliary lipids within the gall bladder on the following morning using a combined nasoduodenal intubation and isotope scanning technique. We studied six gall stone subjects before and durin...

The time required for precipitation of cholesterol crystals (nucleation time, NT) was determined and related to the cholesterol saturation in gall bladder bile of gall stone free subjects (n = 11), patients with pigment stones (n = 3), and patients with cholesterol gall stones (n = 30) undergoing cholecystectomy. Seven of the gall stone patients had been treated with chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA...

Baccharis dracunculifolia, the host plant of the gall maker Neopelma baccharidis Burck., is locally distributed in delimited patches. The effects of the host plant individual (plant height, crown diameter, and crown volume), local (host plant patch), and regional (locality) characteristics on the number of galls were analyzed, in Viçosa (three patches) and in Rio Doce State Park, Marliéria (two...

The dissolution of cholesterol gall stones is documented in two adults with cystic fibrosis. Improved care of patients with cystic fibrosis has meant that most survive into adult life. Consequently extrathoracic complications are assuming greater importance, especially those of the hepatobiliary system. These include progressive biliary cirrhosis (25%) leading to portal hypertension and oesopha...

INTRODUCTION Perforation of the gall bladder represents a rare, but life-threatening complication of cholecystitis. Clinical presentation may vary between severe peritonism in acute perforation and absence of symptoms in subacute or chronic progression of perforation. Abdominal imaging like ultrasound or CT-scan are important tools for immediate diagnose of gall bladder perforation. CASE PRES...

The relationship between cholesterol in plasma and risk of gall stone formation was investigated in 210 obese patients who underwent jejunoileal bypass surgery and were free of gall stone disease at the time. Among 185, successfully reexamined on average 19 months after surgery, 26 (14%) developed gall stones. The fall in plasma cholesterol after surgery exhibited a U-shaped relation to risk of...

Diverse physiological and behavioural mechanisms allow animals to effectively deal with stressors, but chronic activation of the stress axis can have severe consequences. We explored the effects of chronic social stress on agonistic behaviour and gall bladder function, a critical but widely neglected component of stress-induced gastrointestinal dysfunction. Prolonged cohabitation with dominant ...

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is becoming increasingly popular for the treatment of gall stone disease. In this technique, the gall bladder is dissected free under laparoscopic vision and then extracted. We report an interesting complication that occurred during extraction of a gall bladder containing a large stone and a novel method of overcoming the problem.