Roentgenographic AIds in Diagnosis of Neoplasms of Liver and Extrahepatic Ducts

The histories of 35 patients with primary carcinoma of the gallbladder were reviewed in order to assess the diagnostic value of data obtained by preoperative roentgenography. The customary upper gastrointestinal series of roentgenograms showed signs of extrinsic pressure on the duodenum in 10 of 32 cases in which such a series was made. A plain film of the abdomen revealed a mass in the right upper quadrant in 3 of 24 cases. Oral cholecystography was carried out in 26 cases, 4 of which showed opacification of the biliary system. Newly developed roentgenographic techniques are helpful in selected cases and sometimes furnish decisive information. The diagnosis of polypoid growths within the gallbladder is occasionally settled by the finding of a solitary fixed filling defect on cholecystography and is an indication for cholecystectomy.