The value of sonography in determining cystic duct patency

A prospective blinded comparison of ultrasonography (US) and oral cholecystography (OCG) was performed in 100 patients with symptomatic gall-stones to determine whether US would enable an accurate assessment of cystic duct patency to be made. Patency of the cystic duct was defined as gall-bladder opacification on OCG or a > 20% decrease in gall-bladder volume by US post-fatty meal. The ellipsoid method of volume measurement was used. Any patient who had a non-opacified gall-bladder on OCG but a > 20% volume decrease on US had cholescintigraphy performed (DISIDA). Oral cholecystography demonstrated cystic duct patency in 88 patients (88%), and fatty-meal gall-bladder US met the specified study criteria for patency in 86 patients (86%). False negative results were identified in four of the OCG and in six of the US examinations. The results of this study indicate that gall-bladder sonography with a post-fatty meal contraction of > 20% is a very accurate predictor of cystic duct patency. A contraction of < 20%, however, cannot be considered a reliable predictor of cystic duct occlusion.