Emptying of Gall Bladder in Children.

Abstract

While studying catarrhal jaundice in children, it was found necessary to ascertain the emptying time of the gall bladder in non-jaundiced individuals of comparable age. This paper deals with 3 normal cases. In each instance 75 mg. of “Iodeikon” per kilo were administered orally, in accordance with the recommendation of Dr. Evarts Graham. Children over 5 years old were given the usual capsules, but in babies the dye had to be administered in the form of an emulsion (specially prepared by Swan Myers Co. of Indianapolis). Up to the present time we have been unable to secure intestinal absorption of the emulsion in babies, but visualization of the gall bladder in children of 5 to 9 years has been readily obtained. The first few cases (Fig. 1) seem to indicate that the rate of emptying does not differ greatly from that of adults. 1 This seems reasonable in view of the fact that from infancy on, milk forms a principal constituent of the diet.

In connection with these findings it is interesting to note that Halpert 2 has recently called attention to the greater competency of the Heisterian valves in children. But if the cases shown in Fig. 1 are representative, the valves would not seem to offer appreciable obstruction to the flow of bile. Another feature of interest is the relatively large size of the gall bladders shown in Fig. 1, in which the average volume of body and fundus (20 cc.) exceeds that of the 8 smallest adult gall bladders (18 cc.) recorded in Tables I and II (1. c.). 1