Courvoisier's law
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| Courvoisier's law Classification and external resources | |
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| Palpable Gall Bladder Image courtesy of Charlie Goldberg, M.D., UCSD School of Medicine and VA Medical Center, San Diego, California |
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Courvoisier's law (or Courvoisier syndrome, or Courvoisier's sign) states that in the presence of a palpable gall bladder, jaundice is unlikely to be caused by gallstones. This is because gallstones are formed over a longer period of time, and this results in a shrunken, fibrotic gall bladder which does not distend easily. Therefore the gall bladder is more often enlarged in pathologies that cause obstruction of the biliary tree over a shorter period of time such as pancreatic malignancy.[1]
It is named for Ludwig Georg Courvoisier.[2]
(Images courtesy of Charlie Goldberg, M.D., UCSD School of Medicine and VA Medical Center, San Diego, California)
Cholangiocarcinoma has caused patient's gall bladder to become markedly dilated, and therefore, easily palpable (A). Note skin is also jaundiced due to biliary tract obstruction. |
 CT sagital image demonstrates dilated gall bladder (B), dilated common bile duct (C), and dilated intrahepatic ducts (D). Courvoisier described the same findings in patients with pancreatic cancer. |
References
- ↑ Parmar MS (April 2003). "Courvoisier's law". CMAJ 168 (7): 876–7. PMID 12668550.
- ↑ synd/2065 at Who Named It
See also
External links
Eponymous medical signs for digestive system and abdomen | |
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| Digestive system | digestive tract: Goodsall's rule
liver: Councilman body - Mallory body biliary: Boas' sign - Courvoisier's law - Charcot's triad 2/Reynolds' pentad - Murphy's sign - Nardi test |
| Abdominal - general | spleen/LUQ: Ballance's sign - Traube's sign
peritoneum: Blumberg sign - Rigler's sign hemorrhage: Cullen's sign - Grey Turner's sign appendicitis: Aaron's sign/McBurney's point - Rovsing's sign Chilaiditi syndrome - Fothergill's sign |
Eponymous medical signs for hematology | |
|---|---|
| Hematology | Arneth count - Apt test - Auer rod - Cabot rings - Coombs test - Döhle bodies - Mentzer index - Russell bodies - Virchow's triad - Howell-Jolly body |
Acknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content
Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .
