Observations of the Gallbladder and Bile During Pregnancy at Term

The frequency of abdominal distress in the upper right quadrant of the abdomen of women during antepartum and postpartum periods led me for the past five years into the routine practice of inspecting, palpating and aspirating the gallbladder in all my cesarean cases. The procedure was simple, because I use the high incision above the navel. First of all, the uniformly distended bladder made me interested and inquiring, and then the hope of gaining more information suggested the bacteriologie and later the chemical analysis of the aspirated bile. I found that the results were difficult to interpret in many cases, and at the same time the procedure was accompanied with no dangers or complications. However, it is not within the scope of this paper to enter into the physiology of the liver; but some of the observations, readings and conclusions may be of interest and promote further investigation, because a search of the present-day literature discloses that the study of the bile of pregnant women at term has never before been attempted.