Review article: gall-bladder motility after intestinal surgery.

There is a close relationship in humans between gall-bladder motility and gastrointestinal motility during the fasting state, as well as in the post-prandial period. Only a minority of publications take this relationship into account in the description of biliary dysmotility after various surgical procedures. Most publications deal with post-prandial gall-bladder motility or with stimulation of gall-bladder contraction from various prokinetic drugs or gastrointestinal hormones. Impaired gall-bladder motility has been demonstrated after Billroth II gastric resection, pyloroplasty and colectomy, but the epidemiological data on the risk of gallstone formation in these patients are too scarce and equivocal to recommend prophylactic cholecystectomy. Future studies on gall-bladder motility after surgical procedures should include measurements of gall-bladder motility during the fasting state, as well as in the post-prandial period. The measurements should be related to the migrating motor complexes, and this necessitates a simultaneous recording of gastrointestinal motility.