[Polypoid lesions of the gallbladder]

Abstract

Ultrasound examination of the gallbladder was performed in a prospective study (from 1985 to 1988) of 14,841 consecutive patients. Polypoid changes were found in 224 (129 men, 95 women; mean age 54 [18-88] years), sonographically classified as cholesterol polyps in 212, as polypoid lesions of uncertain benignity in 12. Mean observation time of 92 patients with cholesterol polyps was 9 (3-48) months. In six the polyp diameter increased by up to 5 mm: only two of them were operated upon and the diagnosis was confirmed in both. A total of 21 patients suspected of having cholesterol polyps were operated upon, the diagnosis confirmed in 17, chronic cholecystitis in two and, in one case each, thickened wall-adherent bile or wall-adherent concrements as cause of the ultrasound changes. Six of the 12 patients with polypoid lesions of uncertain benignity were operated upon: two had an adenoma, one each had tissue heterotopy, malignant melanoma metastasis, gall-bladder carcinoma and adenomyomatosis.