Acalculous hemorrhagic cholecystitis is a rare complication of acute cholecystitis and is associated with a high mortality rate. We present a case of acalculous hemorrhagic cholecystitis with hematoma in the gallbladder lumen, which was diagnosed using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The T1- & T2-weighted MRI revealed gallbladder distension with a hypointense intraluminal hematoma. The excellent tissue contrast provided by MRI is useful for detecting hematomas in the cases of hemorrhagic cholecystitis.
Acalculous Cholecystitis ; Cholecystitis ; Cholecystitis, Acute ; Gallbladder ; Hematoma ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging

No abstract available.
Cholecystitis, Acute ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Stents

Limy bile is a relatively rare condition in which a radiopaque material is visible in the gallbladder, extending rarely into the bile duct, on plain radiography. Acute cholangitis or cholecystitis caused by limy bile is a very rare condition. There are no definite treatment guidelines for limy bile, but in most cases with cholangitis or cholecystitis, laparoscopic cholecystectomy has been the preferred treatment. We report a case of limy bile with biliary symptoms that was treated only with an endoscopic procedure.
Bile ; Bile Ducts ; Cholangitis ; Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic ; Cholecystitis ; Cholecystitis, Acute ; Gallbladder

To assess the pathological basis of the sonographic changes of the gallbladder wall in cholecystitis, thesonographic appearances of the gallbladder wall were analysed in 17 patients with acute cholecystitis and 27patients with chronic cholecystitis, and correlated with pathological specimens removed at surgery. In acutecholecystitis, a thin sonolucent layer within the echogenic gallbladder wall corresponds to subserosal edema,hemorrhage and inflammatory cell infiltration: in chronic cholecystitis it corresponds to subserosal edema,hemorrhage and inflammatory cell infiltration: in chronic cholelcystitis it corresponds to subserosal edema,hemorrhage and inflammatory cell infiltration, in chronic cholelcystitis it corresponds to muscular hypertrophy.Indistinctness and/or a low echogenicity rind along the inner margin reflects mucosal sloughing or obliteration ofthe mucosal folds. Uniformly decreased echogenicity of the wall is caused by severe inflammatory cell infiltrationwith sloughing of the mucosa or obliteration of the mucosal folds. These sonographic singns are considered to bevaluable sings of cholecystitis.
Cholecystitis ; Cholecystitis, Acute ; Gallbladder ; Humans ; Mucous Membrane ; Ultrasonography

Gangrenous cholecystitis is a kind of acute cholecystitis, whose course of disease progresses rapidly, early diagnosis is difficult and mortality is high, and clinicians are prone to misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis in clinical work.However, gangrenous cholecystitis has been ignored in various guidelines.This paper systematically summarized the pathogenesis, pathological manifestations, epidemiology, clinical diagnosis and treatment of gangrenous cholecystitis, hoping to provide a complete and clear diagnosis and treatment process for clinicians.
Cholecystectomy ; Cholecystitis/surgery* ; Cholecystitis, Acute/surgery* ; Gangrene/surgery* ; Humans

Emphysematous cholecystitis is an uncommon form of acute cholecystitis characterized by the presence of gas within the wall, lumen of the gall bladder or biliary ducts. Clinically it is very similar to ordinary farm. But since the risk of perforation is five times that expected from ordinary cholecystitis, early diagnosis and appropriate surgical treatment are important. We could diagnose these cases by the simple abdomen, abdominal ultrasound and abdominal CT by the presence of air in the lumen and the wall of the gall bladder. Percutaneous trans hepatic gall bladder drainage (PTGBD) for decompression was used because poor general condition of patients and later, we could successfully perform the cholecystectomy without any complication. We presented two cases of emphysematous cholecystitis with review of the relevant literature on the subject.
Abdomen ; Cholecystectomy ; Cholecystitis ; Cholecystitis, Acute ; Decompression ; Drainage ; Early Diagnosis ; Emphysematous Cholecystitis* ; Humans ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Ultrasonography ; Urinary Bladder

PURPOSE: Since introduction of the laparoscopic procedure for cholecystectomy, it has become the treatment of choice for symptomatic gallbladder diseases. Previous studies have demonstrated that implementation of critical pathway (CP) in laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is effective in reducing cost in terms of length of stay (LOS) and revisit rates. However, few studies have proven the effectiveness of critical pathway specifically in patients with acute cholecystitis (AC). METHODS: CP was introduced for LC for chronic cholecystitis (CC) in April 2008. Then, indication for CP was extended to AC in May 2010. We compared outcomes of LC for patients with AC between two eras, including Pre-CP (Jan 2007 to Mar 2008) and Post-CP (May 2010 to Jun 2011). Among 78 patients with AC, 70 patients (90%) were enrolled for the critical pathway. Among them, 55 patients (79%) were discharged with full application of CP; however, it was suspended in 15 patients (21%). RESULTS: No differences in demographics and clinical characteristics were observed between Pre-CP (n=97) and Post-CP (n=70) patients. The mean LOS before surgery was shorter in the Post-CP group (2.6 vs. 4.0 days, p=.012). In addition, the mean total LOS was shorter in the Post-CP group (5.5 vs. 8.7 days, p<.001). However no differences in postoperative complications were observed between the two groups (10 vs. 5 cases, p=.483). CONCLUSION: Implementation of CP in AC resulted in a decrease in the LOS in total and before surgery, without increasing morbidity. Therefore, critical pathway can be safely implemented for selected patients with AC.
Cholecystectomy ; Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic ; Cholecystitis ; Cholecystitis, Acute* ; Critical Pathways* ; Demography ; Gallbladder Diseases ; Humans ; Length of Stay ; Postoperative Complications

Gastric cancer mainly spreads to the liver, peritoneum, and lymph nodes and rarely metastasizes to the gallbladder. The prognosis of gastric cancer with metastasis to the gallbladder is reported to be very poor, and presentation with cholecystitis is a prognostic factor. Herein, we present a case of gastric cancer with metastasis to the gallbladder, accompanied by acute cholecystitis.
Cholecystitis ; Cholecystitis, Acute* ; Gallbladder* ; Liver ; Lymph Nodes ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Peritoneum ; Prognosis ; Stomach Neoplasms*

PURPOSE: Acute cholecystitis has been a general contraindication of laparoscopic cholecystectomy, and complicated cholecystitis is a challenging disease even in open surgery. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of laparoscopic cholecystectomy in acute and complicated cholecystitis. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 233 cases treated with laparoscopic cholecystectomy for acute and complicated cholecystitis at Ewha Mokdong hospital from March 1997 to February 2001. Postoperative outcomes were compared between simple acute cholecystitis and complicated cases. The uncomplicated simple acute cholecystitis group (simple acute group) comprised 161 cases (69%) and the complicated cholecystitis group, which included hydrops, empyema, and pericholecystic abscess (complicated group), included 72 cases (31%). RESULTS: In the acute and complicated cholecystitis groups, the length of postoperative diet was 2.19 days and 2.46 days, the conversion rate was 8.07% and 8.3%, and the complication rate was 4.97% and 12.5%, respectively. There was no statistical difference for these three factors (p>0.05). The hospital stay was 6.19 days and 7.57 days, and the mean time of operation was 97.09 minute and 116.5 minute, respectively. These two factors were significantly different (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy was shown to be a safe and effective treatment for simple acute cholecystitis and complicated acute cholecystitis. Even in severecomplicated cholecystitis, laparoscopic cholecystectomy can be a primary treatment modality.
Abscess ; Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic* ; Cholecystitis ; Cholecystitis, Acute* ; Diet ; Edema ; Empyema ; Length of Stay ; Medical Records ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of abdominal ultrasonography (USG) as performed by emergency physicians (EP) after systematic training and to compare it with the performance of a radiologist. METHODS: From 4 March, to 3 October, 2006, we enrolled 368 patients with suspected acute appendicitis and 177 patients with suspected acute cholecystitis. During night hours, abdominal USG was performed by EPs who had been trained for more than 2 years (Group I), and during day, it was performed by a radiologist (Group II). In group I, 201 patients were suspected to have acute appendicitis and 103 patients were suspected to have acute cholecystitis. In group II, 167 patients were suspected to have acute appendicitis and 74 patients were suspected to have acute cholecystitis. We reviewed pathology reports and the final diagnoses of all patients after one month. We calculated the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and accuracy for each group and then compared the diagnostic accuracy for group I with that of group II using the chisquare test. RESULTS: With suspected acute appendicitis patients, the sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and accuracy of USG were 92.0%, 85.2%, 88.9%, 89.3%, and 89.1% for group I and 94.2%, 85.7%, 91.6%, 90.0%, and 91.0% for group II. With suspected acute cholecystitis patients, the sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and accuracy of USG were 87.2%, 93.8%, 89.5%, 92.3%, and 91.3% for group I and 92.0%, 93.9%, 88.5%, 95.8%, and 93.2% for group II. There was no significant difference in the diagnostic accuracy between the two groups. (p=0.533, p=0.630) CONCLUSION: In this study, there was no significant difference between EPs and a radiologist in diagnostic accuracy of abdominal USG. This result suggests that diagnostic abdominal USG for acute abdominal diseases, such as acute appendicitis and acute cholecystitis can be appropriately used as a diagnostic modality by emergency physicians who are properly trained in a systematic educational program.
Appendicitis* ; Cholecystitis ; Cholecystitis, Acute* ; Diagnosis ; Emergencies* ; Humans ; Pathology ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Ultrasonography*