Biliary Flow in Septate Gallbladder on Hepatobiliary Scintigraphy with SPECT/CT

Excerpt

Septate gallbladder is in the shape of an hourglass and is characterised by the presence of a transversely oblique septum that separates the gallbladder fundus from the rest of the body. The septum is most probably congenital in origin and bears a minute to moderate opening that connects the two isolated chambers [1]. Septate gallbladder has not been well documented because it is usually asymptomatic or discovered accidentally during the evaluation of abdominal pain [2]. Ultrasonography, computed tomography, or MRI is usually applied to detect the morphological abnormalities [3], but these modalities have limitations in the delineation of biliary flow or assessment of the function of septate gallbladder. Once the bile has been made visible through radiolabeling with Tc-99m hepatic iminodiacetic acid analogues (Tc-99m mebrofenin), it should theoretically be possible to investigate functional abnormalities associated with bile formation and flow [4]. Recently, the hybrid single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) systems have been widely used for improving anatomical certainty in interpretation. …