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. 2019 Dec;19(79):269-275.
doi: 10.15557/JoU.2019.0040. Epub 2019 Dec 31.

Gallbladder diseases in pregnancy: Sonographic findings in an indigenous African population

Bukunmi Michael Idowu  1 , Stephen Olaoluwa Onigbinde  2 , Isaiah Uzezi Ebie  1 , Michael Temidayo Adeyemi  1
Affiliations

Gallbladder diseases in pregnancy: Sonographic findings in an indigenous African population

Bukunmi Michael Idowu et al. J Ultrason. 2019 Dec.

Abstract

Aim of the study: This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of gallbladder disease in gravid Nigerian women and to elucidate any association with gravidity and ABO blood group.

Materials and methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study of six hundred and fifty-six (656) pregnant women recruited from March 2015 to March 2016. Hemoglobin genotype and blood group were recorded and a sonographic examination was performed using Siemens ultrasound scanner. Statistical analysis was done using STATA software for Windows.

Results: Age had a significant association with the occurrence of gallbladder diseases (Likelihood ratio = 7.116, P = 0.03). Two (0.3%) pregnant women had biliary sludge, 11 (1.7%) had gallstones while 643 (98%) had normal gallbladders. Also, only one (9.1%) primigravida woman with gallstone was found in this study while 10 (90.9%) of the women with gallstones were multigravida. All the pregnant women who had gallstone(s) had blood group O. Of the two women with biliary sludge; one had blood group A while the other had blood group O.

Conclusions: The incidence of gallbladder disease increased with age in this study. There was a higher prevalence of gallstones than sludge in pregnancy. Also, the incidence of gallstones increased with the number of pregnancies among the women with gallstones. Attention should be paid to the gallbladder during abdominal sonography in pregnancy.

Keywords: gallstones; pregnancy; sludge; ultrasonography.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest Authors do not report any financial or personal connections with other persons or organizations, which might negatively affect the contents of this publication and/or claim authorship rights to this publication.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Sonograms of the gallbladder showing a normal gallbladder with anechoic lumen (A), layering sludge (B), and gallstones casting posterior acoustic shadows (C)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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