Gallbladder wall thickening: a frequent finding in various nonbiliary disorders--a prospective ultrasonographic study.

A comprehensive prospective ultrasonographic study was performed in 93 patients to investigate gallbladder wall thickness and gallbladder volumes in various nonbiliary disease states. Without changes in gallbladder volume, mean gallbladder wall thickness was significantly increased (p less than 0.01) in patients with liver cirrhosis, viral hepatitis, chronic congestive heart failure, hypoalbuminemia, and chronic renal failure (p less than 0.05) but not in patients with diabetes mellitus (n = 14) as compared to a control group. The present study confirms that a variety of nonbiliary disorders are associated with significant thickening of gallbladder walls and that this finding is not caused by incomplete gallbladder contraction.