HIDA Scan/False Negative Test?

[luluglo]

Hi everyone! I want to thank you all for your posts - reading about everyone elses gallbladder symptoms/problems has been a HUGE help to me!

So, I seem to be having gallbladder problems. About once a month for a few nights, I will have pain (URQ, radiating to my right shoulder) after eating dinner. I had a particularly bad attack a few weeks ago, which has not completely gone away. It was bad for about 1 1/2 weeks, to the point where I couldn't eat without being in excruciating pain. But over the last week or so, I seem to be getting better. I have more of a constant pain now, but it is tolerable.

My question: I am scheduled for a HIDA scan next month. If I am feeling better and not showing symptoms of gallbladder problems, will the HIDA scan still pick up on anything wrong, or is the HIDA best to have done during an attack? I'm very certain (as is my GI) that the gallbladder is my problem (I had an upper endoscopy which ruled out an ulcer). I would hate to have it show that it is fine when it most likely isn't! I'm bummed it took a month to get an appt to get it done, but what can you do?

Has anyone felt ok during their scan, and still have it say the gallbladder was bad?

[Jdell88]

Hello! When I was having gallbladder problems my HIDA scan came back with a 71% EF rate. A few months later my surgeon decided to take the gallbladder  out and found that I had chronic cholecystitis so HIDA scans can be a false negative.

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

Any structural or functional abnormalities of the gall bladder will persist. In HIDA scans the gall bladder gets filled in 5-10 mins and sometimes longer. The emptying usually happens within 2 hrs. That's what happens if the test is normal--if something is blocked then the progression stops flowing along--usually either the gall bladder never fills or it never empties in an abnormal scan. CCK HIDA or HIDA with ejection fraction (EF) is seen to check for gall bladder ejection. There is nausea and some amount of pain with this medication.

If gallbladder ejection fraction is below 35% is considered to be gallbladder dyskinesia.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.