Courvoisier's law states that, in the presence of jaundice, an enlarged gallbladder is unlikely to be due to gallstones; rather carcinoma of the pancreas or the lower biliary tree is more likely.
This may be explained by the observation that the gallbladder with stones is usually chronically fibrosed and so, incapable of enlargement.
The converse of Courvoisier's law is not true; the cause of jaundice in a patient with a non-palpable gallbladder is not necessarily gallstones as 50% of dilated gallbladders are impalpable.
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