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Asymptomatic Gangrenous Acute Cholecystitis: A Life-Threatening Condition

Gangrenous gallbladder (GGB) is a life-threatening complication of acute cholecystitis, which happens due to gallbladder (GB) wall ischemia and necrosis. Delaying the diagnosis of GGB is life-threatening and may happen in asymptomatic patients. We present a case of an elderly male patient with a his...

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Autores principales: Medina, Victor J, Martial, Annia M, Chatterjee, Tulika
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Cureus 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10132852/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37123804
http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.36672
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author Medina, Victor J
Martial, Annia M
Chatterjee, Tulika
author_facet Medina, Victor J
Martial, Annia M
Chatterjee, Tulika
author_sort Medina, Victor J
collection PubMed
description Gangrenous gallbladder (GGB) is a life-threatening complication of acute cholecystitis, which happens due to gallbladder (GB) wall ischemia and necrosis. Delaying the diagnosis of GGB is life-threatening and may happen in asymptomatic patients. We present a case of an elderly male patient with a history of gastric carcinoid tumor, with partial gastric resection, who presented with generalized weakness and jaundice. His total bilirubin was elevated and an ultrasonography and computed tomography (CT) scan of the abdomen showed evidence of acute cholecystitis. An endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) the day after admission showed no evidence of choledocholithiasis or cholangitis. It was during laparoscopic cholecystectomy three days later that the diagnosis of GGB was made as the GB was found to be necrotic with extensive adhesions. The patient also required intravenous antibiotics prior to discharge. This case illustrates risk factors for the development of gangrenous cholecystitis, physical findings in asymptomatic patients, and the importance of early diagnosis in order to reduce morbidity in this patient population.
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spelling pubmed-101328522023-04-27 Asymptomatic Gangrenous Acute Cholecystitis: A Life-Threatening Condition Medina, Victor J Martial, Annia M Chatterjee, Tulika Cureus Emergency Medicine Gangrenous gallbladder (GGB) is a life-threatening complication of acute cholecystitis, which happens due to gallbladder (GB) wall ischemia and necrosis. Delaying the diagnosis of GGB is life-threatening and may happen in asymptomatic patients. We present a case of an elderly male patient with a history of gastric carcinoid tumor, with partial gastric resection, who presented with generalized weakness and jaundice. His total bilirubin was elevated and an ultrasonography and computed tomography (CT) scan of the abdomen showed evidence of acute cholecystitis. An endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) the day after admission showed no evidence of choledocholithiasis or cholangitis. It was during laparoscopic cholecystectomy three days later that the diagnosis of GGB was made as the GB was found to be necrotic with extensive adhesions. The patient also required intravenous antibiotics prior to discharge. This case illustrates risk factors for the development of gangrenous cholecystitis, physical findings in asymptomatic patients, and the importance of early diagnosis in order to reduce morbidity in this patient population. Cureus 2023-03-25 /pmc/articles/PMC10132852/ /pubmed/37123804 http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.36672 Text en Copyright © 2023, Medina et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Emergency Medicine
Medina, Victor J
Martial, Annia M
Chatterjee, Tulika
Asymptomatic Gangrenous Acute Cholecystitis: A Life-Threatening Condition
title Asymptomatic Gangrenous Acute Cholecystitis: A Life-Threatening Condition
title_full Asymptomatic Gangrenous Acute Cholecystitis: A Life-Threatening Condition
title_fullStr Asymptomatic Gangrenous Acute Cholecystitis: A Life-Threatening Condition
title_full_unstemmed Asymptomatic Gangrenous Acute Cholecystitis: A Life-Threatening Condition
title_short Asymptomatic Gangrenous Acute Cholecystitis: A Life-Threatening Condition
title_sort asymptomatic gangrenous acute cholecystitis: a life-threatening condition
topic Emergency Medicine
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10132852/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37123804
http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.36672
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