The following is a summary of “Focusing in on gallbladder disease. Do current imaging modalities accurately depict the severity of final pathology?,” published in the December 2022 issue of Surgery by Bauman, et al.

There were concerns about the accuracy of imaging modalities for gallbladder disease (GBD). Researchers believed that the final pathologic analysis and the results of ultrasonography (US), computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) needed to be better correlated.

The study looked back on every patient who had a cholecystectomy at the facility. The main result was an agreement between the final gallbladder pathology report and the US, CT, and MRI results. To determine the degree of agreement, Cohen’s Kappa statistic was used (0 = agreement equal to chance, 0.1-0.2 = slight agreement, 0.21-0.40 = minimal/fair agreement, 0.41-0.60 = moderate agreement, 0.61-0.80 = substantial agreement, 0.81-0.99 = near perfect agreement, and 1 = perfect agreement). The cutoff for significance was P< 0.05.

About 1,107 patients signed up. There were 64.2% females and an average age of 48.6 (±17.6). The three imaging modalities and the eventual pathology had only a weak correlation (US = 0.363; CT = 0.223; MRI = 0.351; P< 0.001).

For GBD, there was little concordance between imaging techniques and the final pathology findings. Despite imaging results, patients who arrive with GBD symptoms should be given the option of urgent surgical surgery.

Reference: americanjournalofsurgery.com/article/S0002-9610(22)00660-2/fulltext