Having History Of Upper Right Quadrant Belly Pain. Done With HIDA Scan. Technician Circled Couple Of Dark Areas On The Picture. Meaning?

Posted on Fri, 23 Aug 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 23 Aug 2013 Answered on

Thu, 19 Sep 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : My wife has had a history of upper right quadrant belly pain for a couple of years. Weve been through endoscopy, stomach emptying study (showed gastropheresis) and now an ultrasound and HIDA scan. Ultrasound tech paused in the area (upper right side (wife was lying on her left side) where she is woken up at night sometimes with pain and asked if it hurt there, "yes", does it hurt right now "no". The HIDA scan procedure took 2.5 hours and the technician circled a couple of dark areas on the picture. I'm trying to understand what any of it means, and be prepared for our gastrodoctor visit next week. What should I be thinking about, or what questions should I ask.

Answered by Dr. Jorge Brenes-Salazar (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
HIDA looks for obstruction of gall bladder

Detailed Answer:
Dear patient,

I believe that the tech was concerned about gall bladder stones, also known as cholelithiasis, and the complications related to that such as cholecystitis; the questions you want to ask:

1) Is there evidence of stones? Are they big or small, are they single or numerous?

2) Is there evidence of obstruction of the cystic duct or other parts of bile ducts?

3) Would you recommend surgery, if so when is the right time?

Yours truly,

Dr Brenes-Salazar MD
Mayo Clinic MN

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar