[Echogenic gallbladder sludge: ultrasonographic study and pathological significance in 74 cases (author's transl)].

Correlations between ultrasonographic and clinical and histological findings were studied in 74 patients presenting with echogenic gallbladder sludge. The majority of patients in whom bile examinations had been performed had either pus, blood, biliary sediment, or microcalculi in the bile, but precise identification of the nature of the sludge does not appear to be possible on ultrasonography. Calculi were present in the gallbladder in 39 p. cent of these patients, only 9 p. cent demonstrating the presence of sludge without established liver or biliary lesions. This ultrasonographic image appears, therefore, to be a clinically significant valid finding.