Abstract
BACKGROUND: Gallstones and gallbladder wall thickening (GBWT) are frequent findings in patients with cirrhosis, reflecting the critical interplay between hepatobiliary dysfunction and portal hypertension. AIM: To assess the prevalence of gallstones and asymptomatic GBWT in patients with cirrhosis. METHODS: Hospitalized patients with cirrhosis who had undergone abdominal imaging studies during hospitalization were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 128 patients were included. The patients had a mean age of 64 ± 12.2 years, were predominantly male (73.4%), and most had decompensated liver cirrhosis (DeCi) (78.1%). Alcohol-associated liver disease (47.7%) and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (16.4%) are the leading causes of cirrhosis. Most patients were classified as Child-Pugh stage B (53.1%), followed by stage C (32%), and stage A (14.8%). A significant percentage of patients had cholelithiasis (39.8%), and DeCi patients were more likely to have gallstones (45%) than compensated patients (21.4%) (P = 0.024). Furthermore, a significant number of patients had asymptomatic GBWT (32.8%), and almost half (42.9%) did not have concurrent cholelithiasis. Patients with DeCi were significantly more likely to have GBWT (39%) than those with compensated disease (10.7%) (P = 0.005). There was no statistical correlation between cirrhosis etiology and cholelithiasis or GBWT. CONCLUSION: This study underlines the high prevalence of radiologic gallbladder findings in patients with cirrhosis while simultaneously serving as a reminder to clinicians to refrain from accrediting these findings to a diagnosis of acute cholecystitis in the absence of symptoms.