Effects of Colectomy on Gallbladder Motility in Patients with Ulcerative Colitis

In order to gain insight into the possiblemechanisms involved in gallstone formation incolectomized ulcerative colitis patients, we studiedgallbladder motility by means of ultrasonography inthree groups of subjects: controls (N = 40) and ulcerativecolitis patients without (N = 30) and with (N = 20)colectomy. Impaired gallbladder emptying after a liquidfatty meal stimulus was observed in ulcerative colitis patients with colectomy compared with thoseobtained in ulcerative colitis patients withoutcolectomy and controls (P = 0.001). The maximumpercentage of gallbladder emptying also, wassignificantly lower (59.8%) than those seen in ulcerative colitispatients without colectomy (74.5%) and controls (77.8%)(P = 0.001). Diminished gallbladder emptying withensuing stasis might be a contributory factor to the increased prevalence of gallstones incolectomized patients.