Question

what is the sonographic difference between sludge and stone in gallbladder?

Answer 1

Gallbladder stones are  the hardest deposit of digestive fluids within the fluid in the gall bladder .

Gallblader sludge is the collection or deposition of  cholesterol, calcium, bilirubin, and other gall bladder compounds .

The sonographic difference between sludge and stone in gallbladder is that,

the sludge sonograph or ultrasound resembles as a low amplitude homogenous echoes, the posterior wall is layered andforming the frequently forming the fluid level above it. And it never remains constant , it moves slowly with changes in the position of patient. Sludge never cause shadowing until unless it is associated with the gall bladder stones . Sometime sludge can converted and forming into  tumefactive sludge, which has no  posterior acoustic shadowing and internal vascularity at color Doppler in the ultrasound .

The stones in gallbladder have been detected using the sonography or ultrasound and we will get  gallstones are a highly reflective echo from the anterior surface of the gallstone, gallbladder stones have mobility on repositioning the patient and it has the acoustic shadowing that is marked posteriorly . If the gallbladder has filled with stones then the appearence of them is shown by resulting the apperarance that we called the wall echo shadow sign.

The gall bladder's anterior wall is echogenic and below that there is a thin and dark line of bile . The echogenic line of the superficial stones have the posterior shadowig . In all ultrasound or sonography, the deeper stones and posterior gall bladder wall is not visible .

The differences are mentioned above between the sonography and ultrasound of stones and sludge in gall bladder .