Clinical History

Abdominal pain, bile leak.

Technique

The patient was administered 2 millicuries of Tc 99m Choletec and multiple dynamic images were obtained. There is normal uptake of activity by the liver. Activity is identified in the region of the common bile duct by ten minutes. The patient has had a recent cholecystectomy; therefore, the gallbladder is not visualized.

Findings

During the 90 minutes of further imaging, there is continued pooling of activity over the left lobe of the liver. There is a lack of normal small bowel visualization, with persistent activity remaining superimposed over the liver. This finding would be consistent with an area of a bile leak.

Impressions

FINDINGS OF PROMPT EXCRETION BY THE LIVER; HOWEVER, THERE IS ACCUMULATION OF LABELED ACTIVITY SUPERIMPOSED OVER THE LEFT LOBE OF THE LIVER, WITHOUT NORMAL SMALL BOWEL ACTIVITY, SUGGESTING A BILE LEAK IN THIS AREA. IF CLINICALLY INDICATED, CT OR SONOGRAPHY MAY BE USEFUL FOR FURTHER EVALUATION.

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