Association between a focal spared area in the fatty liver and intrahepatic efferent blood flow from the gallbladder wall: evaluation with color Doppler sonography.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether fatty sparing adjacent to the gallbladder fossa is related to efferent blood flow from the gallbladder wall. Color and power Doppler sonography were performed in 80 patients with a fatty liver that appeared as a fine echogenic pattern with considerable deep attenuation on sonography. We analyzed whether color signal appeared around the spared area, the gallbladder wall, or both. Subsequently, when such signal was detected, pulse Doppler analysis of the signal was performed. Color signal indicating efferent blood flow from the gallbladder wall was detected in 25 (64%) of 39 patients with a focal spared area at the gallbladder fossa and in two (5%) of 41 patients without a focal spared area. This difference was statistically significant (p < .05). The waveform of efferent blood flow signals (n = 25) that were seen within spared areas was continuous in 23 (92%) of 25 patients and was pulsatile in the remaining two patients (8%). Blood flow from the gallbladder wall to areas of the spared liver was frequently revealed by color and power Doppler sonography; therefore, this blood flow may be associated with focal fatty sparing.