Ultrasonic diagnosis of primary gallbladder carcinoma and analysis on reasons for its misdiagnosis

Objective To analyze the ultrasonic features and causes for misdiagnosis of primary gallbladder carcinoma in order to raise the accurate rate of diagnosis of primary gallbladder carcinoma.Methods The ultrasonic data of 26 patients with primary gallbladder carcinoma diagnosed by pathological examination of operative specimens were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed in order to find out the characteristic ultrasonic features of primary gallbladder carcinoma and the causes for misdiagnosis.Results In 26 cases,18 cases of primary gallbladder carcinoma were correctly diagnosed by ultrasonography(69.2%),and 8 cases were misdiagnosed(30.8%).The ultrasononic features of primary gallbladder carcinoma could be divided into 4 types: ①local or total thickening of gallbladder wall(11/26=42.3%);②solid mass(6/26=23.1%);③nodular bulge(8/26=30.8%);④big gallbladder(1/26=3.8%).Conclusion Although the ultrasonographic features of primary gallbladder carcinoma are diverse,and the accurate rate of ultrasonographic diagnosis can be raised by careful observation of the full view of gallbladder with the application of color Doppler imaging technique.