Abstract
We report five dogs with jaundice that were treated by cholecystectomy. Four of them, Cases 1 to 4, were suspected of having a gallbladder mucocele (GM) by ultrasonography before the surgery. The other dog, Case 5, was found to have a ruptured GM during the surgery; the position of the gallbladder had not been located by preoperative ultrasonography. In all dogs except Case 3, necrosis with or without necrotic perforation was seen at the gallbladder wall or neck. The younger dogs, Case 4 and Case 5 survived, but the other three over 12 years died after surgery. There was no correlation between their prognoses and the abnormal values of alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin, or icterus index levels measured at the first visit. These results suggested that surgical intervention should be done immediately after characteristic images of GM are recognized on ultrasonography.
