Comparative Sonographic Evaluation of the Gallbladder in Sickle Cell Disease Patients and Apparently Healthy Non-Sickle Cell Disease Individuals in a Nigerian Town

Background: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an autosomal recessive blood disorder with multi-organ manifestations including the gall bladder. Studies have shown that individuals with sickle cell disease have strong tendency of developing pigment gallstones due to chronic red blood cell hemolysis and increased bilirubin levels.

Aim and Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the gallbladder changes which includes volume, wall thickness, presence of biliary sludge and prevalence of calculi between age and sex-matched sickle cell disease patients and apparently healthy, normal non-SCD individuals.

Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional comparative study of 50 known SCD patients attending the Haematology clinic of sub-urban tertiary health facility in Nigeria, and equal number of age and sex-matched apparently healthy, non-SCD volunteers attending the Well people clinic of the same hospital as controls. Each subject was evaluated for gallbladder volume, wall thickness, presence of biliary sludge and gallstones using a 3.5-5MHz curvilinear array transducer of a Mindray ultrasound machine, DC-6 model, 2016.

Data Analysis: The data collected was analysed using the IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.

Statistical test was considered significant at p-value ≤ 0.05 and a confidence interval of 95%.

Results: Out of the 100 subjects who underwent scanning, 50 were patients with sickle cell disease, consisting of 29 males (58.0%) and 21 females (42.0%), while the remaining 50 were non-sickle cell disease volunteers serving as controls, comprising 24 males (48.0%) and 26 females (52.0%). Their ages ranged from 2 to 65 years.

The mean age of the cases and controls was 22.1±14.7 years and 19.9±12.6 years respectively. Among the patients; 8 (16.0%) had cholecystitis and 10 (20.0%) had gallstones, with no detectable abnormality in the controls.

Conclusion: The ultrasonographic prevalence of gallbladder abnormalities was recorded only in patients with sickle cell disease when compared to apparently healthy controls as shown with increased prevalence with age.