Agenesis of the gallbladder: laparoscopic diagnosis.

Congenital absence of the gallbladder is an extremely rare anomaly. Although ideally gallbladder agenesis should be diagnosed before surgery, this has not been documented in the literature. Laparoscopy offers patients with nonvisualizing or shrunken gallbladders on imaging studies the opportunity for diagnosis in a minimally invasive manner. A thorough laparoscopic exploration and cholangiogram are necessary to confirm the diagnosis.