Ectopic liver tissue on the gallbladder: A Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses guided systematic review

Table 1 Demographic and clinical characteristics of reported cases of ectopic liver tissue on the gallbladder

Ref.	Year	Country	Language	Age	Sex	History of liver disease	Preliminary diagnosis
Emral[96]	2025	Türkiye	English	34	Female	No	Cholelithiasis
Wan et al[99]	2025	China	English	40	Female	Chronic liver disease	Liver cancer
Jain et al[97]	2025	United States	English	36	Female	No	Gallbladder polyp
				57	Female	No	Chronic calculous cholecystitis + malignancy
Touati et al[98]	2024	Tunisia	English	45	Female	No	Cholelithiasis
Zhang and Zheng[3]	2025	China	English	51	Female	No	Gallbladder polyp
Xu et al[4]	2024	United States	English	52	Male	Hepatosteatosis	Biliary dyskinesia + gallbladder polyp
				35	Female	No	Acute calculous cholecystitis
Imamura et al[5]	2024	Japan	English	40	Male	NA	Cholelithiasis
Ferjaoui et al[6]	2024	Tunisia	English	60	Female	No	Cholelithiasis
Echeverry-Gutiérrez et al[7]	2024	Mexico	English	34	Male	No	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Zhang et al[28]	2023	Australia	English	36	Female	No	Cholelithiasis
Öğüt et al[29]	2023	Türkiye	English	44	Female	No	Acute calculous cholecystitis
Nakajima et al[17]	2023	Japan	English	74	Male	Alcoholic liver disease	Acute calculous cholecystitis + choledocholithiasis
Hussein Al-Janabi et al[30]	2023	Syria	English	40	Male	No	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
				52	Male	No	NA
Arora and Kalra[31]	2023	India	English	60	Male	No	Acute calculous cholecystitis
Yildirim et al[32]	2022	Türkiye	English	51	Female	No	Cholelithiasis
Hanaki and Miyatani[33]	2022	Japan	English	60	Male	No	Acute calculous cholecystitis
Goyal and Vikas[34]	2022	India	English	NA	Female	No	Cholelithiasis
Çağlar[35]	2022	Türkiye	Turkish	38	Female	No	Cholelithiasis
Sarı et al[36]	2021	Türkiye	English	45	Male	No	Cholelithiasis
				41	Female	No	Cholelithiasis + choledocholithiasis
Rakka et al[37]	2021	Belgium	English	40	Female	No	Cholelithiasis
Moshref and Alotaibi[38]	2021	Saudi Arabia	English	47	Male	No	Acute on chronic calculous cholecystitis
Healy and Harris[39]	2021	Australia	English	61	Male	Cirrhosis	NA
Kachi et al[9]	2020	Lebanon	English	62	Female	No	Cholelithiasis
				44	Female	No	Cholelithiasis
Avdaj et al[13]	2020	Kosovo	English	47	Female	No	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Akbulut et al[1]	2020	Türkiye	English	25	Female	No	Living liver donor
				45	Female	Cirrhosis	Cirrhosis
Yüksel et al[40]	2019	Türkiye	English	34	Female	No	Acute calculous cholecystitis
Pandit et al[41]	2019	Nepal	English	30	Female	No	Biliary pancreatitis calculous
Mannan et al[42]	2019	Saudi Arabia	English	38	Female	NA	Acute calculous cholecystitis
Isa et al[24]	2019	Bahrain	English	42	Female	No	Cholelithiasis
Granek et al[26]	2019	Australia	English	36	Male	No	Acute calculous cholecystitis
Baral et al[43]	2019	United States	English	67	Female	No	Cholelithiasis
Topcu et al[14]	2018	Türkiye	English	64	Female	No	Cholelithiasis
				70	Female	No	Pancreatic cancer
Lodha et al[44]	2018	India	English	50	Male	NA	Kidney tumor
Greenberg et al[45]	2018	United States	English	52	Female	Hepatosteatosis	Cholelithiasis
Burke et al[46]	2018	Ireland	English	30	Female	NA	Cholelithiasis
Weber-Alvarez et al[15]	2017	Mexico	English	37	Female	NA	Acute calculous cholecystitis
Termos et al[47]	2017	Kuwait	English	73	Female	No	Gallbladder cancer
Galimov et al[48]	2017	Russia	Russian	70	Male	NA	Acute calculous cholecystitis
Yahya et al[49]	2016	Libya	English	45	Female	NA	Acute calculous cholecystitis
				45	Female	NA	Cholelithiasis
				35	Female	NA	Cholelithiasis
				20	Male	NA	Penetrating abdominal injury
Mani et al[50]	2016	United States	English	56	Male	Hepatosteatosis	Acute calculous cholecystitis
Longjam et al[51]	2016	India	English	42	Female	NA	Cholelithiasis
Leena[52]	2016	India	English	25	Male	NA	Autopsy
Kostov and Kobakov[53]	2016	Bulgaria	English	49	Male	Rectum cancer liver metastasis	Rectum cancer liver metastasis
Karaca et al[10]	2016	Türkiye	English	43	Female	No	Cholelithiasis
Jaboury[54]	2016	Australia	English	22	Female	NA	Cholelithiasis
Ito et al[19]	2016	Japan	English	59	Female	No	Cholelithiasis
Handra-Luca[55]	2016	France	English	68	Female	NA	Cholelithiasis
				56	Female	NA	Cholelithiasis
Aslan and Akkas[56]	2016	Türkiye	English	49	Female	NA	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Yankol et al[57]	2015	Türkiye	English	30	Male	No	Living liver donor
Smyth et al[58]	2015	Australia	English	77	Female	No	Cholelithiasis
Hussein et al[59]	2015	Lebanon	English	49	Female	No	Acute calculous cholecystitis
Bal et al[2]	2015	Türkiye	English	51	Female	NA	Biliary pancreatitis calculous
Abhilash et al[60]	2015	India	English	45	Female	NA	Acute calculous cholecystitis
Terakawa et al[61]	2014	Japan	Japanese	33	Female	No	Cholelithiasis
Pulle et al[62]	2014	India	English	43	Female	NA	Cholelithiasis
Arslan et al[12]	2014	Türkiye	English	59	Female	No	Cholelithiasis
Yajima et al[63]	2013	Japan	Japanese	73	Female	No	Cholelithiasis
Sirasanagandla et al[64]	2013	India	English	62	Male	NA	Autopsy
Öztürk et al[65]	2013	Türkiye	Turkish	35	Female	No	Cholelithiasis
Martinez et al[11]	2013	Brazil	English	37	Female	NA	Cholelithiasis
Khan et al[66]	2013	India	English	32	Female	NA	Cholelithiasis
Hassan et al[67]	2013	India	English	32	Female	No	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Sözen et al[68]	2012	Türkiye	Turkish	40	Female	NA	Cholelithiasis
Patel et al[69]	2011	United Kingdom	English	21	Female	NA	Cholelithiasis
Karaman et al[25]	2012	Türkiye	English	63	Male	NA	Cholelithiasis
Mallya et al[100]	2012	India	English	36	Female	No	Living liver donor
Nagar et al[70]	2011	United States	English	25	Female	No	Abdominal pain + cystic mass
Dettmer et al[71]	2011	Switzerland	English	91	Female	No	Acute calculous cholecystitis
Catani et al[72]	2011	Italy	English	72	Female	No	Acute calculous cholecystitis
				83	Female	No	Cholelithiasis
Ateş et al[73]	2010	Türkiye	Turkish	64	Female	No	Acute calculous cholecystitis
				49	Male	NA	Cholelithiasis
Triantafyllidis et al[21]	2009	Greece	English	56	Female	NA	Cholelithiasis
Sánchez et al[74]	2009	Mexico	Spanish	36	Male	NA	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Kyeong et al[75]	2008	South Korea	English	66	Female	NA	Cholelithiasis
Soto et al[76]	2007	United States	English	32	Female	NA	Cholelithiasis
Malhas et al[77]	2007	United Kingdom	English	39	Female	NA	Cholelithiasis
				42	Male	Hepatosteatosis	Cholelithiasis
Koh and Hunt[78]	2007	Australia	English	60	Female	NA	Acute calculous cholecystitis
Beltran et al[79]	2007	Chile	English	33	Female	NA	Cholelithiasis
				27	Male	NA	Gastric cancer
				35	Male	NA	Pancreatic pseudocyst
				47	Male	No	Cholelithiasis
Wang and Liu[80]	2006	China	Chinese	38	Male	NA	Gallbladder polyp
Ngowe Ngowe et al[81]	2006	Cameroun	French	46	Female	No	Acute calculous cholecystitis
Ikeda et al[82]	2006	Japan	English	70	Male	Chronic liver disease	Cirrhosis + hepatocellular carcinoma
Lundy et al[83]	2005	United States	English	38	Female	NA	Liver cancer
Leone et al[16]	2004	Italy	English	54	Female	No	Gallbladder cancer
Sakarya et al[84]	2002	Turkey	English	NA	NA	NA	NA
Griniatsos et al[88]	2002	United Kingdom	English	39	Female	NA	Acute calculous cholecystitis
				49	Male	NA	Cholelithiasis
Acar et al[86]	2002	Turkey	English	55	Female	NA	Cholelithiasis
Arakawa et al[23]	1999	Japan	English	48	Male	Alcoholic liver disease	Autopsy
Hamdani and Baron[87]	1994	United States	English	49	Male	Cirrhosis	Primer sclerosing cholangitis
Ohbuchi et al[88]	1993	Japan	Japanese	64	Female	No	Gallbladder polyp
Boyle et al[89]	1992	United States	English	44	Female	No	Acute calculous cholecystitis
Watanabe et al[22]	1989	Japan	English	37	Male	Cystic liver lesion	Cystic liver lesion
				56	Male	Cirrhosis	Alcoholic liver disease
				71	Female	Cirrhosis	Cirrhosis
				64	Female	Cirrhosis	Cirrhosis
Tejada and Danielson[90]	1989	United States	English	43	Male	NA	Cholelithiasis + hereditary spherocytosis
Fellbaum et al[91]	1987	Austria	German	34	Female	NA	Cholelithiasis
Natori et al[92]	1986	Japan	English	56	Female	No	Cholelithiasis
Ashby[93]	1969	United Kingdom	English	42	Male	NA	Duodenal ulcer
Bassis and Izenstark[94]	1956	United States	English	5 days	Male	NA	Autopsy
				NA	NA	NA	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
				NA	NA	NA	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
				NA	NA	NA	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Thorsness[95]	1941	United States	English	63	Female	NA	Autopsy
Cullen[8]	1925	United States	English	33	Female	No	Jaundice
Our case 1				58	Male	No	Acute calculous cholecystitis
Our case 2				30	Female	No	Living liver donor
Our case 3				41	Female	No	Cholelithiasis

NA: Not available.

Table 2 Radiological, surgical, and histopathological findings in reported cases of ectopic liver tissue on the gallbladder

Ref.	Radiologic tools	Lesion sizes (mm)	Surgical procedure	Histopathological findings of ELT	Histopathological findings of gallbladder specimens
Emral[96]	US	10	LC	ELT	NA
Wan et al[99]	US + CT + MRI	15	Cholecystectomy (radical)	HCC	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Jain et al[97]	NA	20	Cholecystectomy (which?)	ELT	Normal gallbladder
	CT	18	OC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Touati et al[98]	US	10	LC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Zhang and Zheng[3]	US	10	LC (3-port)	ELT	NA
Xu et al[4]	US + HIDA	9	LC	Steatohepatitis	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
	US	17	LC	ELT	Acute on chronic calculous cholecystitis
Imamura et al[5]	NA	10	LC	ELT	NA
Ferjaoui et al[6]	US	20	LC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Echeverry-Gutiérrez et al[7]	US	20	LC	ELT	NA
Zhang et al[28]	US	NA	LC	ELT	NA
Öğüt et al[29]	US	15	LC	No excise	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Nakajima et al[17]	CT	10	OC	HCC	Necrotic cholecystitis
Hussein Al-Janabi et al[30]	US	10	LC	ELT	NA
	NA	13	LC	ELT	NA
Arora and Kalra[31]	US	NA	LC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Yildirim et al[32]	US	10	LC	ELT	Cholelithiasis + cholesterolosis
Hanaki and Miyatani[33]	CT	8	LC	ELT	Acute cholecystitis cholelithiasis
Goyal and Vikas[34]	US	NA	LC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Çağlar[35]	US	20	LC	ELT	NA
Sarı et al[36]	US	16	LC	ELT	NA
	ERCP	8	LC	ELT	NA
Rakka et al[37]	US	20	LC	ELT	NA
Moshref and Alotaibi[38]	US	12	LC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Healy and Harris[39]	Laparoscopy	NA	LC	Micronodular cirrhosis	NA
Kachi et al[9]	NA	5	LC	ELT	NA
	US	10	LC	ELT	NA
Avdaj et al[13]	US	NA	LC	ELT	NA
Akbulut et al[1]	CT + MRI	15	Donor hepatectomy	ELT	Normal gallbladder
	CT	NA	LT	Cirrhosis	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Yüksel et al[40]	US	17	LC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Pandit et al[41]	US + MRCP	35	LC	ELT	NA
Mannan et al[42]	US	50	LC	ELT	NA
Isa et al[24]	US	NA	LC	ELT	NA
Granek et al[26]	US	19	LC	ELT	NA
Baral et al[43]	US	30	LC	ELT	NA
Topcu et al[14]	US	15	OC	ELT	NA
	US + CT + MRI	80	Whipple procedure	ELT	NA
Lodha et al[44]	US + CT	20	Lap nephrectomy	No excise	NA
Greenberg et al[45]	US + CT	30	LC	ELT	NA
Burke et al[46]	US	NA	LC	ELT	NA
Weber-Alvarez et al[15]	US	10	LC	ELT	Acute on chronic calculous cholecystitis
Termos et al[47]	US + CT	30	LC	ELT	NA
Galimov et al[48]	US	6	LC	ELT	Phlegmonous cholecystitis (cholelithiasis)
Yahya et al[49]	NA	NA	LC	ELT	NA
	US	NA	LC	ELT	NA
	US	60	LC	ELT	NA
	NA	NA	Diagnostic laparoscopy	ELT	NA
Mani et al[50]	CT	NA	LC	ELT	NA
Longjam et al[51]	US	12	LC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Leena[52]	Autopsy	15	Autopsy	NA	NA
Kostov and Kobakov[53]	NA	35	OC	ELT	Hydatid cyst on gallbladder wall
Karaca et al[10]	US	15	LC	ELT	NA
Jaboury[54]	NA	NA	LC	ELT	NA
Ito et al[19]	US + CT + MRI	15	LC	ELT	NA
Handra-Luca[55]	US	5	LC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
	US	11	LC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Aslan and Akkas[56]	US	8	LC	ELT	NA
Yankol et al[57]	US + CT + MRCP	15	Donor hepatectomy	ELT	NA
Smyth et al[58]	US	20	LC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Hussein et al[59]	CT	NA	LC	ELT	NA
Bal et al[2]	US + ERCP	20	LC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Abhilash et al[60]	US	10	LC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Terakawa et al[61]	US + CT + MRCP	12	LC	ELT	NA
Pulle et al[62]	US	20	LC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Arslan et al[12]	US	20	LC	ELT	NA
Yajima et al[63]	US + CT	6	LC	ELT	NA
Sirasanagandla et al[64]	NA	20	Autopsy	ELT	NA
Öztürk et al[65]	US	20	LC	ELT	NA
Martinez et al[11]	US	30	LC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Khan et al[66]	NA	NA	LC	Fatty change	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Hassan et al[67]	US	10	LC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Sözen et al[68]	US	8	LC	ELT	NA
Patel et al[69]	US	26	LC	ELT	NA
Karaman et al[25]	US	11	LC	ELT	NA
Mallya et al[100]	NA	15	Donor hepatectomy	ELT	NA
Nagar et al[70]	US + CT + MRCP	45	LC	ELT	Localized cholecystitis
Dettmer et al[71]	CT	15	LC	ELT	Acute cholecystitis cholelithiasis)
Catani et al[72]	US	15	LC	ELT	NA
	US	14	LC	ELT	NA
Ateş et al[73]	NA	15	LC	ELT	NA
	US	15	LC	ELT	NA
Triantafyllidis et al[21]	US	15	LC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Sánchez et al[74]	US	30	LC	ELT	NA
Kyeong et al[75]	CT	10	LC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Soto et al[76]	US	8	LC	ELT	NA (cholelithiasis)
Malhas et al[77]	US	NA	LC	ELT	NA
	US	NA	LC	ELT	NA
Koh and Hunt[78]	NA	15	LC	ELT	NA
Beltran et al[79]	US	17	LC	ELT	NA
	US + CT	7	OC + gastrectomy	ELT	NA
	US + CT	18	OC	ELT	NA
	US	12	LC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Wang and Liu[80]	US	11	LC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholesterol polyps)
Ngowe Ngowe et al[81]	US	30	OC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Ikeda et al[82]	US + CT	NA	OC + segment V resection	Steatohepatitis	NA
Lundy et al[83]	US + CT	30	LC	ELT	NA
Leone et al[16]	US + CT	90	OC	HCC	NA
Sakarya et al[84]	NA	NA	LC	NA	NA
Griniatsos et al[88]	US	10	LC	ELT	NA
	US	15	LC	ELT	NA
Acar et al[86]	US	14	OC	ELT	Papillary epithelial hyperplasia
Arakawa et al[23]	Autopsy	15	Autopsy	Alcoholic cirrhosis	NA
Hamdani and Baron[87]	US + CT + MRI	30	LT	ELT	NA
Ohbuchi et al[88]	US	5	LC	ELT	NA
Boyle et al[89]	US	20	OC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Watanabe et al[22]	CT	5	Diagnostic laparoscopy	Biliary microhamartoma	NA
	Laparoscopy	8	Diagnostic laparoscopy	NA	NA
	Laparoscopy	6	Diagnostic laparoscopy	NA	NA
	US + CT	10	Diagnostic laparoscopy	NA	NA
Tejada and Danielson[90]	US	11	OC + splenectomy	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Fellbaum et al[91]	NA	5	OC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Natori et al[92]	CT	12	OC + excision	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Ashby[93]	NA	10	OC + excision	ELT	NA
Bassis and Izenstark[94]	NA	8	Autopsy	ELT	NA
	NA	15	OC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
	NA	10	OC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
	NA	6	OC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Thorsness[95]	Autopsy	5	Autopsy	ELT	NA
Cullen[8]	NA	12	Excision	NA	NA
Our case 1	US + CT	25	LC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Our case 2	US + CT + MRI	8	Donor hepatectomy	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis
Our case 3	US	13	LC	ELT	Chronic calculous cholecystitis

US: Ultrasonography; CT: Computed tomography; MRI: Magnetic resonance imaging; HIDA: Hepatobiliary iminodiacetic acid; ERCP: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography; MRCP: Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography; NA: Not available; LC: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy; OC: Open cholecystectomy; LT: Liver transplantation; ELT: Ectopic liver tissue; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma.