Protocol for Cholecystokinin Cholescintigraphy for Gallbladder Ejection Fraction
From: J Nucl Med 1999; Ziessman HA. Cholecystokinin cholescintigraphy: Victim of its own success? 40: 2038-2042
Routine cholescintigraphy:
1. The patient should have nothing by mouth for 4 hours before the exam. If fasting over
24 hours, the patient should receive a slow infusion of CCK before initiating the study.
After CCK infusion, wait 30 min before radiopharmaceutical injection to allow time for the
gallbladder to relax.
2. Camera: Large field of view, anterior projection
3. Computer set-up: 60 one minute frames
4. Patient set-up: Supine
5. Inject Tc-99m-mebrofenin or Tc-99m-disofenin 5 mCi (185 MBq) I.V.
6. After the gallbladder has filled, usually at 60 minutes, commence setup for CCK
cholescintigraphy
CCK Cholescintigraphy:
1. Computer set-up: 30 one minute frames
2. Place camera in the left anterior oblique projection to minimize overlap of
gallbladder, small bowel, and common duct activity.
3. Infuse 0.02 ug/kg sincalide diluted in a 30-mL volume continuously over 30 minutes
using a constant infusion pump or volutrol for intravenous rate control.
4. On the computer, draw a region of interest around the gallbladder and adjacent liver
background.
5. Generate a gallbladder back-ground corrected time-activity curve.
6. Calculate the percentage of gallbladder emptying (GBEF): (max counts-minimum
counts)/maximum counts
