RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Gall bladder emptying patterns in response to a normal meal in healthy subjects and patients with gall stones: ultrasound study.
JF Gut
JO Gut
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and British Society of Gastroenterology
SP 1406
OP 1411
DO 10.1136/gut.32.11.1406
VO 32
IS 11
A1 P J Howard
A1 G M Murphy
A1 R H Dowling
YR 1991
UL http://gut.bmj.com/content/32/11/1406.abstract
AB In this study gall bladder emptying patterns in response to a solid meal were studied using ultrasound. A similar triphasic pattern was seen in eight healthy control subjects and eight patients with gall stones, with 'early' and 'late' net emptying phases separated by a period of net refilling with peak postprandial gall bladder volumes occurring at (mean (SD)) 33.1 (17.9) minutes and 27.4 (18.8) minutes in control subjects and patients, respectively. A phase of slower net emptying followed, which was complete at 146 (33) minutes in control subjects and 125 (33) minutes in the gall stone patients (not significant). Superimposed upon this overall triphasic pattern, postprandial gall bladder emptying was punctuated by repeated short lived episodes of filling and emptying. The mean (SD) estimated postprandial bile outputs were 0.83 (0.34) ml/min in four control subjects and 1.2 (1.1) ml/min in seven patients with gall stones. We propose a 'washout' model to reconcile this large turnover of bile with the concentrating and storage functions of the gall bladder and predict that the extent rather than the rate of gall bladder emptying is important in determining stasis of bile in the gall bladder.