Acute Acalculous Cholecystitis: Think of Hepatitis A Infection and Do Not Underestimate Pain.

ABSTRACT: A 14-year-old adolescent girl presented with severe abdominal pain, tenderness, and guarding in the right upper quadrant associated with nonbilious vomiting, scleral icterus, and fever. Laboratory tests were consistent with acute hepatitis A virus-related cholestatic hepatitis. A point-of-care ultrasound showed mild gallbladder wall thickening with increased color Doppler flow and pericholecystic fluid collection, in the absence of gallstones or biliary ducts dilatation, thus suggesting acute acalculous cholecystitis. Both the clinical symptoms and the point-of-care ultrasound findings completely resolved within 1 week after admission with conservative treatment.

Advances in the Study of Acute Acalculous Cholecystitis: A Comprehensive Review.

BACKGROUND: Acute acalculous cholecystitis (AAC) is characterized by acute necrotizing inflammation with no calculi and is diagnosed based on imaging, intraoperative, and pathological examinations. KEY MESSAGE: Although AAC has been studied clinically for a long time, it remains difficult to diagnose and treat. The pathogenesis of AAC is still not fully understood, and it is often regarded as a relatively independent clinical disease that is different from acute calculous cholecystitis (ACC). Pathological studies suggest that AAC is the manifestation of a critical systemic disease, while ACC is a local disease of the gallbladder. SUMMARY: Concerning the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of AAC, we reviewed the research progress of AAC, which will enhance the understanding of the early diagnosis and treatment of AAC.

Epstein-Barr Virus Causing Clinical Jaundice and Acute Acalculous Cholecystitis in a Previously Healthy 17-Year-Old Girl.

BACKGROUND Infectious mononucleosis secondary to Epstein-Barr Virus is a common infection in young adults. Infection usually involves a self-limiting course of fevers, sore throat, malaise, and myalgias. Transaminitis is a relatively common complication; clinical jaundice, however, is rare. This case report highlights an uncommon complication of Epstein-Barr Virus infection in which hepatocellular injury led to clinical jaundice as well as radiologic evidence of gallbladder pathology mimicking acute calculous cholecystitis. CASE REPORT A 17-year-old girl with no prior medical history presented to our Emergency Department 1 week after being diagnosed with infectious mononucleosis. She was hemodynamically stable and her physical exam was notable for scleral icterus with right upper quadrant tenderness and positive Murphy's sign. Multiple imaging modalities performed showed gallbladder wall thickening without common bile duct dilatation. A hepatobiliary iminodiacetic acid (HIDA) scan showed evidence of hepatocyte dysfunction with normal gallbladder filling. The imaging results obtained in conjunction with her laboratory testing and active infectious mononucleosis infection confirmed the patient's presentation was a result of her Epstein-Barr virus infection and did not require surgical intervention for cholecystectomy. CONCLUSIONS This case report highlights a rare complication of Epstein-Barr Virus infection and demonstrates the utility of interpreting hepatic function testing in conjunction with relevant imaging modalities in cases of clinical jaundice. By doing so, we were able to conclude the patient's gallbladder pathology was related to acute acalculous cholecystitis (AAC) and did not warrant surgical intervention. The patient was given supportive care measures and made a full recovery.

Acute Acalculous Cholecystitis after Measles.

The recent increase in measles cases will result in a higher incidence of associated complications. Hepatobiliary complications are among rare complications of measles. Here, we present a case of measles complicated by acute acalculous cholecystitis (AAC), which we believe to be only the second case reported in the literature. A 17-year-old woman presented with a maculopapular rash, high fever, sore throat, runny nose, nausea, and generalized body aches. Measles was diagnosed by anti-measles immunoglobulin M (IgM) positivity and a 4-fold increase in immunoglobulin G (IgG) 2 weeks later. On day 5, Murphy's sign was positive and antibiotic therapy was initiated. Two days later, laparoscopic cholecystectomy was performed due to persistent fever and abdominal pain. The pathology result was consistent with nonspecific cholecystitis. As this case highlights, it should be kept in mind that AAC, which is a rare complication of the multisystem involvement caused by measles, can occur during recovery from the infection.

Acute Acalculous Cholecystitis in a Multiple Sclerosis Patient Treated with Natalizumab.

Natalizumab is a disease-modifying drug that has proved greatly effective and well-tolerated in highly-active Multiple Sclerosis (MS). However, it may increase the risk for opportunistic infections, such as viral ones. We describe a 37-year-old woman treated with Natalizumab for Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (RR-MS) who presented to our clinic with malaise, arthromyalgias, rash, and fever. She later developed diarrhea and severe abdominal pain. A diagnosis of parvovirus B19 (B19V) infection and acute acalculous cholecystitis (AAC) was eventually made. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of AAC possibly related to Natalizumab therapy and B19V infection.

Obstructive jaundice due to acute acalculous cholecystitis: 'Mirizzi-like syndrome'.

A 78 year-old female status post subarachnoid haemorrhage developed abdominal pain and obstructive jaundice. CT scan showed acute cholecystitis and dilation of the intrahepatic ducts. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiography revealed hepatic duct stenosis due to compression by an enlarged gallbladder. No stones were seen in the common hepatic duct and the cystic duct was patent. An endoscopic retrograde biliary drain was placed to relieve the obstructive jaundice due to acute acalculous cholecystitis. Percutaneous transhepatic drainage was performed to treat the acute acalculous cholecystitis. Hepatic duct stenosis was improved on endoscopic retrograde cholangiography performed 19 days after percutaneous transhepatic drainage. It may be reasonable to treat 'Mirizzi-like syndrome' non-operatively.

Lenvatinib-induced acute acalculous cholecystitis in a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma.

The patient was a 67-year-old man with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) due to chronic hepatitis B. Due to refractoriness to radiofrequency ablation and transcatheter arterial chemoembolization, lenvatinib, a new oral mutikinase inhibitor, was started with a daily dose of 12 mg. However, on day 6 the patient developed acute-onset, right upper quadrant pain associated with fever; laboratory tests revealed leukocytosis and liver dysfunction. CT scan showed the swollen gallbladder with wall thickening with no evidence of gallstones, and the diagnosis of acute acalculous cholecystitis was made. After the resolution of cholecystitis by antibiotics and endoscopic nasogallbladder drainage placement, lenvatinib was resumed at a reduced daily dose of 4 mg. However, acute acalculous cholecystitis recurred, supporting lenvatinib as a cause of acute acalculous cholecystitis. Using the Naranjo adverse drug reaction probability scale, a score of 6 was derived, which indicates that this adverse event was probably caused by lenvatinib. In summary, we present a patient with advanced HCC who underwent repeated episodes of acute acalculous cholecystitis as a rare adverse event associated with lenvatinib.

Acute Epstein-Barr infection presenting as cholecystitis with ascites.

A young female patient presented with features of ascites and cholecystitis. She was subsequently diagnosed with an acute Epstein-Barr virus infection. This is a rare presentation of a common infection. The patient was managed conservatively and the illness resolved within 6 weeks.

Percutaneous Cholecystolithotomy Using Cholecystoscopy.

The morbidity and mortality of cholecystectomy can increase to 10% in high surgical risk patients. The technique for percutaneous cholecystolithotomy consists of 3 steps: (1) percutaneous cholecystostomy, (2) tract dilation and cholecystolithotomy, and (3) tract evaluation and catheter removal. Cholecystoscopy is critical in guiding the lithotripsy probe for fragmentation of large stones and is useful for locating small stone fragments not seen in cholangiography. Cholecystoscopy is also useful for assessing ambiguous lesions and in distinguishing between stone vs debris or mass. Technical success rate of percutaneous cholecystolithotomy using cholecystoscopy ranges from 93% to 100%. Procedure related complication rate has been reported as 4%-15%. The most common complication is bile leak during the procedure or after catheter removal. Although recurrence rate of gallstones has been reported up to 40%, the symptom recurrence rate is much lower. Therefore, percutaneous cholecystolithotomy using cholecystoscopy can be an alternative to cholecystectomy in high surgical risk patients with symptomatic gallstones.