Phrygian cap (anatomy)

{{Short description|Normal anatomical variant of the gallbladder}}

Image:Gray1095 parts.png.]]

In medicine, a Phrygian cap is the folded portion of some gallbladders that resembles the Phrygian cap (a soft conical cap with the top pulled forward, associated in antiquity with the inhabitants of Phrygia, a region of central Anatolia). It is a normal anatomical variant seen in 1-6% of patients.{{cite journal |vauthors=van Kamp MJ, Bouman DE, Steenvoorde P, Klaase JM |title=A phrygian cap |journal=Case Rep Gastroenterol |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=347–51 |date=August 2013 |pmid=24019768 |doi= 10.1159/000354789|pmc=3764950 |url=https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/354789#/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=24019768}} It is caused by a fold in the gallbladder where the gallbladder fundus joins the gallbladder body.{{cite journal |vauthors=Meilstrup JW, Hopper KD, Thieme GA |title=Imaging of gallbladder variants |journal=AJR Am J Roentgenol |volume=157 |issue=6 |pages=1205–8 |date=December 1991 |pmid=1950867 |doi= 10.2214/ajr.157.6.1950867|url=http://www.ajronline.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=1950867|url-access=subscription }} Apart from the chance of being mistaken for stones on a sonogram, it has no other medical implications nor does it predispose one to other diseases.{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}}

However, due to potential decrease in bile flow, it may warrant a preventive removal of the gallbladder. {{citation needed|date=April 2019}}

File:Phrygian-cap-CT-001 edited-copy.jpg|CT scan showing a phrygian cap