Function of liver, gallbladder and sphincter of Oddi after major surgery studied by computer-assisted cholescintigraphy and real-time ultrasonography.

Patients with normal gallbladders were subjected to computer-assisted Tc-HIDA cholescintigraphy at fixed intervals after major surgery. Hepatic time--activity curves showed that hepatic excretion of the material was first reduced and later a reduction of hepatic uptake followed. The gallbladder responded first by dilatation and reduction of motility and later by delay in or even absence of visualization. Postoperative dilatation was confirmed with real-time ultrasonography. No tracer passed into the duodenum in the early postoperative stage indicating spasm of the sphincter of Oddi. Healthy volunteers were studied with and without morphine and with and without a 24 h fast. The sphincter of Oddi closed after morphine but not after fasting. Transient non-visualization of the gallbladder after surgery makes the diagnosis of postoperative cholecystitis more difficult.