Ultrasound Mis-Diagnosis Of Biliary Sludge As A Gall Bladder Neoplasm-A Case Report

Abstract

Background: Cholecystosonography is the Ultrasound examination of the gall bladder and ducts. It has the advantage of not using ionising radiation, but may be operator dependent. Thus misinterpretation of the images may sometimes occur
especially in the untrained hands.
Case Report: A 24 year old male student was admitted into the medical ward of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) with symptoms of weakness, fever, nausea, pruritus, passage of yellowish urine, jaundice of about 4 weeks. Initial
ultrasound examination done by a private practitioner interpreted the image findings as gall bladder tumor.
Subsequently, the patient was referred to the UBTH, Nigeria.
There the repeat scan done revealed the diagnosis of biliary sludge. Patient was treated appropriately.
Conclusion: By this report, the possibility of misinterpretation of
ultrasound images is documented, especially by untrained personnel is highlighted.

KEY WORDS: Cholecystosonography, biliary sludge, Interpretation, Misdiagnosis.