Point of Care Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound Utility in the Diagnosis of a Gallbladder Perforation: A Case Report

Lauren Lu; Rebecca Leff; Tobias Kummer – A 61-year-old woman with metastatic ovarian cancer presented to the ED with evidence of localized gallbladder perforation with abscess development on an outpatient CT scan obtained as part of a routine consultation for her ovarian cancer. CT abdomen/pelvis with intravenous contrast revealed thickened nodular enhancement on the wall of the gallbladder with evidence of perforation and a large abscess extending into the right paracolic gutter and anterior pelvis.

Radiology Imaging Adds Time and Diagnostic Uncertainty when Point of Care Ultrasound Demonstrates Cholecystitis

David Cannata, BS; Callista Love, BS; Pascale Carrel, BA; Trent She, MD; Seth Lotterman, MD; Felix Pacheco, MD; Meghan Kelly Herbst, MD – Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) is specific for acute cholecystitis (AC), but surgeons request radiology imaging (RI) prior to admitting patients with POCUS-diagnosed AC. Objectives: We sought to determine the test characteristics of POCUS for AC when performed and billed by credentialed emergency physicians (EPs), the accuracy rate of RI when performed after POCUS, and the time added when RI is requested after POCUS demonstrates AC.

A Potential Pitfall in POCUS of the Gallbladder: Beware of the Duodenum

Fan J. Yang, MD; Brian Kohen, MD; Sowmya Sanapala, MD; Michael Halperin, MD MPH – It is estimated that 20 million people in the United States have gallbladder disease. Of the patients who present to the Emergency Department (ED) with abdominal pain, 3-10% have acute cholecystitis.