Detection of occult gallbladder disease by duodenal drainage.

Examination of gallbladder bile in the sediment of duodenal drainage obtained after magnesium sulfate stimulation was used to evaluate the presence or absence of gallbladder disease in thirty-four patients with symptoms suggestive of cholecystitis and normal or equivocal oral cholecystography. Ten patients had positive tests and nine of these had cholecystectomy. All nine had pathologically confirmed cholecystitis and seven of nine had cholelithiasis. Three patients with negative test results had laparotomy and normal gallbladders. The remaining twenty-one patients with negative tests have been followed up to three years, and none have returned with evidence of biliary tract disease. The results of this study suggest that duodenal drainage (Meltzer-Lyon test) is a valuable adjunctive diagnostic study in patients with gallbladder disease symptoms in whom normal or equivocal oral cholecystograms are obtained.