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One hundred ninety-five patients with suspected acute cholecystitis (AC) underwent both hepatobiliary scintigraphy (HBS) and static gray-scale ultrasonography (US) to assess the relative value of each imaging modality in this clinical setting. HBS was performed after the intravenous injection of 5 mCi Tc-99m iprofenin. Abnormal HBS indicative of AC visualized the common bile duct, but not the gallbladder, within 1 to 4 hours after tracer administration. Abnormal US indicative of AC demonstrated cholelithiasis and/or gallbladder wall edema. In this series, HBS surpassed US in sensitivity (98.3% versus 81.4%), specificity (90.2% versus 60.2%), predictive value of an abnormal test (91.4% versus 51.6%), and predictive value of a normal test (100% versus 92%), HBS should be the procedure of choice for the rapid detection of AC.

To assess prospectively the usefullness of hepatobiliary imaging in acute abdominal pain (72 hr or less), 36 patients were scintigraphed after intravenous injection of 5 mCi of Tc-99m p-isopropyl-iminodiacetic acid (PIPIDA). Before the procedure, the referring physician completed Part I of a questionnaire indicating his differential diagnosis, diagnostic confidence (expressed as a percentage), and therapeutic plan. Immediately after the test, the same physician, with knowledge of the results, completed Part II of the questionnaire indicating again his differential diagnosis, diagnostic confidence, and therapeutic plan. The impact of the imaging on the physician's diagnositic confidence was expressed as a log-likelihood-ratio (LLR). The mean LLR for this series was 1.48 +/- 0.93, with 33 of 36 (92%) patients demonstrating a LLR greater than 0.0. In 26 of 33 patients, a LLR greater than 1.0 was achieved; and in 11 of 36 patients, a change in the physician's therapeutic plan occurred, reflecting the considerable impact of hepatobiliary imaging on the decision-making process.