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Courvoisier's law (or Courvoisier syndrome, or Courvoisier's sign) states that in the presence of a palpable gall bladder, painless jaundice is unlikely to be caused by gall stones.[1][2]
This is because gall stones are formed over a longer period of time, and this results in a shrunken, fibrotic gall bladder which does not distend easily. Therefore the gall bladder is more often enlarged in pathologies that cause obstruction of the biliary tree over a shorter period of time such as pancreatic malignancy.
It is named for Ludwig Georg Courvoisier.[3]
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