الملخص الإنجليزي
Objectives: Our study sought to determine the effect of age, parity, body mass index (BMI),
and previous oral contraceptive use on gallbladder volume and ejection fraction in pregnancy
to enable obstetricians to identify patients at risk of gallbladder disease in pregnancy.
Methods: We conducted a prospective cross-sectional study involving 190 pregnant
women who were evaluated within 32 and 40 weeks gestation at the Fetal Assessment
Unit of the Department of Radiology, University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria.
Patients were scanned with a commercially available Siemens Ultrasound scanner using a
curvilinear probe and a transducer frequency of 3.5 MHz. The fasting gallbladder volume
(FGBV) and 30 minutes postprandial gallbladder volume (PGBV) were calculated using
the prolate ellipsoid method. Gallbladder ejection fraction was determined using FGBV
and PGBV. Each patient's biodata, medical history, and somatometric parameters were
documented. Results: A total of 190 volunteers were included in the study. BMI showed
statistically significant positive, though weak correlations with FGBV (r = 0.179, p = 0.015)
and PGBV (r = 0.216, p = 0.003). Maternal age, parity, and previous oral contraceptive
use did not show any statistically significant correlation with gallbladder parameters.
Conclusions: BMI showed a statistically significant but weakly positive correlation
with FGBV and PGBV in pregnancy. Our study demonstrated that gallbladder volume
in pregnancy might be dependent on BMI. Thus, high BMI may predispose to large
gallbladder volume, increasing the risk of biliary stasis and gallstone formation in
pregnancy. This is relevant for early detection and prevention of gallbladder disease and
follow-up, including expectant management of subjects that may develop gallbladder
disease in pregnancy.
