What am I looking at?
Visual recognition
Locking pigtail catheter seated in the gallbladder lumen, draining bile externally to a bag.
13-12
Percutaneous cholecystostomy catheter
Gallbladder drainage catheter
Three-panel learning framework
Recognition, context, and distinction
What does it do, and where will I see it?
Use & procedural context
Locking pigtail placed transhepatically or transperitoneally into the gallbladder to decompress and drain it when surgery is not immediately safe. Typical procedural contexts include acute calculous or acalculous cholecystitis in poor surgical candidates and critically ill patients.
What most clearly distinguishes it from similar devices?
Key distinctions
The catheter terminates as a locking pigtail within the gallbladder for decompression, distinguishing it from biliary drainage catheters positioned within the intrahepatic or extrahepatic ducts.