UMEM Educational Pearls

Category: Critical Care

Title: Acalculous cholecystitis

Keywords: acalculous cholecystitis, HIDA, cholecystectomy (PubMed Search)

Posted: 8/14/2007 by Mike Winters, MBA, MD (Updated: 11/2/2024)
Click here to contact Mike Winters, MBA, MD

-Think about acalculous cholecystitis in the critically ill patient with fever, abdominal pain, and elevation of LFTs and bilirubin -Pathophys thought to be due to SIRS, biliary stasis, and ischemia -Abdominal pain is not always in the right upper quadrant -Patients have a high rate of complications - gangrene or perforation (40% to 60%) -Diagnostic studies: ultrasound (sens. 70%), HIDA (sens. 80% to 90%), CT (sens. 90%) -Consult surgery early because treatment of choice is surgical cholecystectomy; some can be treated with percutaneous cholecystostomy but this is up to your consultant