Cholecystitis (ko-luh-sis-TIE-tis) is inflammation of the gallbladder. It usually occurs when drainage from the gallbladder becomes blocked (often from a gallstone). It may be acute (come on suddenly) and cause severe pain in the upper abdomen. Or it may be chronic (multiple recurrent episodes) with swelling and irritation that occurs over time. Show
Your doctor may use abdominal ultrasound, abdominal CT, magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) or nuclear imaging to help diagnose your condition. Treatment may include fasting, antibiotic medication and having a drainage tube placed in the gallbladder. However, because it can often reoccur, the most common treatment is to have surgery to remove your gallbladder. What is cholecystitis?Cholecystitis means inflammation of the gallbladder. The gallbladder is a pear-shaped organ that sits beneath your liver and stores bile. If your gallbladder is inflamed, you may have pain in the upper right or mid-portion of the abdomen and you may be tender to the touch there. Bile is made in the liver. The gallbladder stores bile and pushes it into the small intestine where it is used to help digest food. When the drainage pathway for the bile stored in the gallbladder (called the cystic duct) becomes blocked, usually by a gallstone, the gallbladder becomes swollen and may become infected. This results in cholecystitis. The cystic duct drains into the common bile duct, which carries the bile into the small intestine. A gallstone may also become stuck in the common bile duct. This condition (choledocholithiasis) requires a procedure to remove or bypass the blockage. Cholecystitis may be:
Other symptoms include:
top of page How is cholecystitis diagnosed and evaluated?Your doctor may order blood tests to see if you have a gallbladder infection. Often, the white blood cell count in our blood may become elevated as a sign of the infection. One or more of the following radiology tests also may be done:
top of page How is cholecystitis treated?Your doctor may suggest:
However, because the condition may come back often, your doctor may recommend you have your gallbladder removed using either:
If you cannot have surgery, your doctor may drain bile from the gallbladder. This may be done by:
top of page top of page This page was reviewed on March, 23, 2021 ImagesView full size with captionPediatric ContentSome imaging tests and treatments have special pediatric considerations. The hand denotes child-specific content.
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What lab values indicate acute cholecystitis?Laboratory Tests. Leukocytosis with a left shift may be observed in acute cholecystitis.. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels are usually used to evaluate for the presence of hepatitis and may be elevated in acute cholecystitis or with common bile duct obstruction.. Is lipase elevated in cholecystitis?Lipase may be elevated in diabetics at baseline and in other nonpancreatic diseases such as renal disease, appendicitis, and cholecystitis, but it is less associated with nonpancreatic diseases than amylase.
How is cholecystitis diagnosed?Abdominal ultrasound, endoscopic ultrasound, computerized tomography (CT) scan or magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) can be used to create pictures of your gallbladder and bile ducts. These pictures may show signs of cholecystitis or stones in the bile ducts and gallbladder.
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