Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Case Report
Abstract: A detailed evaluation was performed to differentiate the cystic structure from adjacent intra-abdominal organs and vessels.Color Doppler ultrasonography was used to confirm the identity of the structure as the fetal gallbladder and to rule out any vascular origin (Fig. 1).Measurements of the gallbladder revealed a crosssectional area of approximately 217 mm², which was significantly larger than the upper limit of 134 mm² for IntroductIonA normal fetal gallbladder appears as an oblong, echolucent structure visualized in the upper abdomen of the fetus lying in anterior relation to the liver. 1 It is generally located 45° to the right of midline and inferior to the umbilical vein.It needs to be distinguished from stomach and intraabdominal blood vessels, such as the portal or hepatic veins, which may also mimic cystic masses in the fetal upper abdomen. 2 With the recent advances and advent of high-resolution ultrasonography, the fetal gallbladder can be easily demonstrated in the second and third trimesters, allowing the prenatal diagnosis of several anomalies such as cholelithiasis, agenesis, septation, duplication, and ectopia.3 The gallbladder typically changes in size in a predictable fashion with advancing gestational age. 4 Cholecystomegaly or enlarged gallbladder is defined as an unusually large gallbladder with an area greater than 2 SD above the mean area for the corresponding gestational age.2,5 case descrIptIon A 25-year-old primigravid female presented at 26 weeks of gestation for a routine antenatal ultrasound scan.During this scan, an incidental finding of a cystic mass in the upper abdomen of the fetus was noted.
Authors: Amandeep Singh, Saksham Khanna
Language: English
Subfield: Surgery
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7117657079