ABSTRACT
Gallbladder agenesis is a rare congenital entity. The incidence is around 1 per 6500 live births. Around 50-70% patients are asymptomatic and the rest are symptomatic with symptoms mimicking biliary colic. Right upper quadrant ultrasound (US) is usually either misleading or inconclusive. Also advanced diagnostic studies such as hepatobiliary iminodiacetic acid (HIDA) scan and endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreatography (ERCP) may show non- visualization of the gallbladder and erroneously lead providers to a diagnosis of cystic duct obstruction rather than Gallbladder Agenesis. So some patients are only finally diagnosed intraoperatively. Surgery in these patients becomes risky because unnecessary dissection while looking for the non-existent gallbladder can result in injury of the biliary tree, hepatic vasculature, or small bowel. Therefore, clinicians should keep Gallbladder Agenesis on their differential diagnosis list and imaging modalities such as magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) should be obtained when other tests are inconclusive. We report a 48-year-old female presenting with chronic symptoms consistent with biliary colic and an equivocal US reported as cholelithiasis. She underwent laparoscopy during which the absence of the gallbladder was noted.