Agenesis of the Gallbladder: A Case Report

Abstract

Agenesis of gallbladder is rare. It may occur as isolated finding or in association with additional abnormalities. The overall incidence is between 0.01 and 0.04% but there is evidence of a much higher incidence in certain families suggesting a hereditary trait.(1,2) Encountering gallbladder agenesis during operation for gallbladder related pathology is a dilemma and a challenge to an astute surgeon to confirm the diagnosis by searching for it in ectopic sites and also to perform intra-operative cholangiography to locate it. Ectopic sites as listed by Sherson (3) include intrahepatic, left sided, between the leaves of lesser omentum, retroperitoneal and retrohepatic, within the falciform ligament, retroduodenal and retropancreatic. There are three groups of patients with agenesis of gallbladder, those with multiple anomalies, asymptomatic cases and symptomatic cases. Right upper quadrant pain occurs in 90% of the cases, nausea and vomiting in 60% and jaundice in 35%. (4) We treated a 30year old lady with agenesis of the gallbladder and obstructive jaundice.