AGENESIS OF THE GALLBLADDER REVISITED LAPAROSCOPICALLY

Gallbladder agenesis is an extremely rare disease. Necropsy incidence has been reported to be 0.016%. Failure to locate the gallbladder at t he time of a planned cholecystectomy can be very challenging. We repor t such a case during a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The indication fo r surgery in these patients are complaints of gallbladder symptoms alo ng with a false-positive ultrasound study. During exploration, an abno rmal location of the gallbladder has to be excluded. Ectopic gallbladd er locations include intrahepatic, lesser omentum, retroperitoneal, re trohepatic, within the falciform ligament, retroduodenal, and retrohep atic areas. Thorough exploration and cholangiography are essential. Em bryologically, the gallbladder and cystic duct arise from the caudal p ortion of the hepatic bud. All of the previously reported cases of gal lbladder agenesis have shown an absence of both the gallbladder and cy stic duct. We report an embryological oddity wherein a patent cystic d uct was found along with an agenetic gallbladder. This is the first ca se report of this finding, along with this being the first absent gall bladder discovered laparoscopically.