Angiographic findings in normal and diseased gallbladders including ischaemic cholecystitis and infarction of the gallbladder.

Angiographic studies were performed on 60 normal and diseased gallbladders obtained from cholecystectomy specimens and necropsy examinations. The normal macro and microangiographic pattern was confirmed, as was the reduction in the number of blood vessels in chronic cholecystitis and cholelithiasis. Histological correlation however showed that the degree of arteriographic change paralleled the degree of histological disease. The microvascular pattern was directly related to the degree of mucosal villous atrophy, a change which may be important in the pathogenesis of some types of gallbladder disease. The most severe angiographic changes occurred in the case of ischaemic cholecystitis, and contrasted with the normal blood vessel pattern in a case of thin walled infarction of the gallbladder.