Sonographic Measurement of Normal Gallbladder Sizes in Adult Nigeria Population

Abstract

The length, height and wall thickness of the gallbladder of 400 healthy subjects, comprising, 200 males and 194 females were measured in fasted subjects using 2-dimensimal (2D) ultrasound to establish the range and mean of normal gallbladder sizes in an adult Nigeria population. The gallbladder volume was calculated from measured values using the ellipsoid equation. Two tailed parametric tests were done to determine any differences in the mean values of the gallbladder volume (GBV) and gallbladder wall thickness (GBWT). The gallbladder dimensions range from 41-96mm (mean 67.42+12.22mm) for the length, 16-44mm (mean = 28.77+6.08mm) for the width, 16-44mm (mean = 27.89+5.36mm) for the height and 1-3.10mm (mean =2.30+0.54mm) for the wall thickness. The mean GBV was 31.43cm³ and 22.60cm³ for males and females respectively compared with 50cm³ but no statistically significant difference was noted between the sexes. A normogram of gallbladder dimensions has been obtained from this study and the volume calculated indicate a statistically significant difference in the GBV of the population compared with that of the Caucasians.