KEY FACTS
Imaging
- •
Single or multiple small, round/ovoid masses attached to gallbladder (GB) wall with no posterior acoustic shadowing
- ○
Usually sessile but may be pedunculated with well-defined stalk
- ○
- •
Usually 2-10 mm in size, most commonly in middle 1/3 of GB
- •
Cholesterol polyp: Small with comet-tail artifact
- •
Avascular or hypovascular on Doppler examination
- ○
Larger lesions may have slight internal vascularity
- ○
- •
Consider neoplastic GB polyp if size > 10 mm, irregular outline, sessile morphology with abnormal GB wall and invasion of adjacent structures, growth on serial US examinations
Top Differential Diagnoses
- •
Hyperplastic cholecystosis/adenomyomatosis
- •
Nonshadowing cholelithiasis or sludge
- •
Adenoma
- •
Carcinoma or metastasis
Pathology
- •
Polypoid lesions include cholesterol polyp, adenomyomatosis, and neoplasms such as adenoma, carcinoma, and metastases
Clinical Issues
- •
5% of population have polyps; 50% are cholesterol polyps
- •
More common in middle age; F > M; incidental finding
- ○
< 6 mm: No follow-up
- ○
7-9 mm: Yearly US follow-up to monitor size
- ○
> 10 mm: Surgical consult
- ○
Scanning Tips
- •
Scan in supine, decubitus (left or right lateral) positions to demonstrate immobility of GB polyp
- •
Look for color flow in polyp and for any abnormality of adjacent GB wall, which might indicate cancer