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The pattern of gallbladder disease at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital


EE Ugiagbe
AN Olu-Eddo

Abstract

Objective: Gallbladder disease is relatively rare in various parts of Africa, though it is now seen more frequently than previously thought. The aim of this study is to establish the hospital incidence of gallbladder lesions at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria.
Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study of all cases of cholecystectomies
between January 2006 and December 2011. The appropriate data was obtained from the surgical day book of the department of histopathology. The data was analysed to reflect age, sex and pathology of the lesions.
Results: A total of 56 patients were studied during the period under review. The ages ranged from 1 to 78 years with a mean of 44±15 years. There was a female preponderance with a male to female ratio of 1.4:6. The commonest gallbladder disease was chronic cholecystitis which was seen in 49(87.5%) patients, out of which 25(44.6%) were acalculus and 24(42.9%) calculus. Adenocarcinoma of the gallbladder was seen in 4(7.1%) patients and villous adenoma in 1(1.8%) patient.
Conclusion: The number of cholecystectomy samples seen during the period of study attests to the rarity of gallbladder disease in this environment compared to findings in developed countries. This may be due to the high fibre and low cholesterol content of our diet.

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eISSN: 1596-6569