Abstract
Although the term of 11 non-functioning" or 11 poorly functioning gall bladder" has long been in use in the medical practice, the absence of a gall bladder shadow following oral administration of radiopaque media is not always due to a diseased gall bladder but frequently it is due to faulty absorption of media from the intestinal tract or sometimes to a diseased liver or sometimes to faulty technique. | Nevertheless Kirklin stated that "it is surprising, not that cholecystography is sometimes in error but that it is so rarely wrong" arousing ample precaution "in pronouncing the shadow to be faint, for normal concentration has a wide latitude" and very definitely said that "the reliable indicia of cholecystic disease comprise but three varieties of abnormality in the shadow of the gall bladder ; (i) absence of shadow, (ii) faintness of the shadow and (iii) mottling of the shadow." (1) Moreover Sosman stated, "cholecystography is almost unique in x-ray examination in that it not only portrays the anatomy of the part under consideration and the consequences of major pathologic reactions but also shows clearly a series of physiologic processes", and kept on "the accuracy of the findings of non-visualized gall bladder alone is close to ninety-nine per cent, in terms of grossly pathologic gall bladders." (2)