A case of a bi-lobed gallbladder separated by a septum which presented difficulty in making a preoperative diagnosis

Abstract

A 41-year-old woman visited our hospital with a chief complaint of right upper abdominal discomfort. Preoperative examination revealed that the gallbladder had two lobes separated by a septum located in the lumen. However, this was initially diagnosed as a bent gallbladder. Gallstone cholecystitis with choledocholiths was diagnosed, and laparoscopic cholecystectomy was performed after endoscopic choledocholithotomy. During surgery, the gallbladder was found to have a normal appearance ; there was no anomaly of the cystic duct. The excised gallbladder was bilobed and divided into the two lobes by a septum. On histopathology, both lobes had mucosa and muscular layers ; the lobes were joined at the subserosal layer. Thus, a diagnosis of bilobed gallbladder separated by a septum was made.
Double gallbladder is a rare malformation of the gallbladder in particular, the subtype of bilobed gallbladder is very rarely reported. We successfully treated a case of bilobed gallbladder by performing a laparoscopic cholecystectomy.