Review article: gall-bladder motility after intestinal surgery

There is a close relationship in humans between gallbladder motility and ga strointestinal motility during the fasting state, as well as in the post-pr andial period. Only a minority of publications take this relationship into account in the description of biliary dysmotility after various surgical pr ocedures. Most publications deal with post-prandial gall-bladder motility o r with stimulation of gall-bladder contraction from various prokinetic drug s or gastrointestinal hormones. Impaired gall-bladder motility has been dem onstrated after Billroth II gastric resection, pyloroplasty and colectomy, but the epidemiological data on the risk of gallstone formation in these pa tients are too scarce and equivocal to recommend prophylactic cholecystecto my. Future studies on gall-bladder motility after surgical procedures shoul d include measurements of gall-bladder motility during the fasting state, a s well as in the postprandial period. The measurements should be related to the migrating motor complexes, and this necessitates a simultaneous record ing of gastrointestinal motility.