Description

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The gallbladder is also known as the biliary viscus. It is a pear-shaped organ. It is blue-grey in color. It is placed slightly oblique in a fossa. This fossa is a non-peritoneal space known as the cystic fossa and is located on the inferior surface of the liver at the level of the cystic notch. It accommodates the space between the inferior sharp borders of the liver to the right end of the porta-hepatis. It varies in size and shape. In measurement, it has a length of 7-10 cm whereas its widest part has a breadth is around 3-4 cm. It has a storage capacity of about 30 to 50 ml.
Anatomically, the gallbladder presents three regions: cap-like fundus, extended body, and constricted neck. The infundibulum is a narrow portion of the body of the gallbladder which continues with the neck. Sometimes there is a small bulge that appears in this region, known as the Hartmann pouch. The Neck region of the gallbladder becomes narrower and it continues as a duct called the Cystic duct. The cap-like fundus is an extendable part so sometimes it extends and folded upon the body of the gallbladder, this condition is known as a Phrygian cap. Sometimes it may confuse the physician in sonography image as an abnormal septum within the gallbladder. In a very rare condition, the gallbladder may be bifid or completely duplicated. If there is duplication then there will be two separate cystic ducts for carrying the secretion. Between the costal margin and the lateral margin of the rectus abdominis muscle, an angle of the gallbladder is located whereas the fundus of the gallbladder is located at the level of the transpyloric plane. Blood supply: arterial supply is by cystic artery and venous drainage is by cystic vein.