Chronic cholecystitis

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Chronic cholecystitis, abbreviated CC, is a very common pathology of the gallbladder and increasing in prevalence with the expanding waist lines.

Chronic cholecystitis
Diagnosis in short

Gallbladder cholesterolosis - often seen together with chronic cholecystitis. H&E stain.

LM entrapped epithelial crypts, fibrosis/muscular hypertrophy of gallbladder wall, +/-foamy macrophages
LM DDx acute cholecystitis, gallbladder adenocarcinoma, gallbladder adenomyoma, intestinal metaplasia of the gallbladder
Gross +/-strawberry-like appearance, yellow stones, fibrotic wall
Site gallbladder

Associated Dx cholelithiasis, gallbladder cholesterolosis, obesity
Clinical history biliary colic, usu. fertile fat females forty years or less
Symptoms constant right upper quadrant pain after a meal (biliary colic)
Prevalence very common
Prognosis good, benign

General

Epidemiology

  • Female, fat, fertile, family history, forty (though now getting younger... as people get fatter).

Etiology

  • Cholelithiasis.
  • Thick bile (acalculous cholecystitis).

Clinical (classic)

  • Constant right upper quadrant pain after a fatty meal.
  • Positive Murphy's sign (physical exam, with ultrasound).

Gross

  • +/-Cholelithiasis - strongly associated pathology.
  • +/-Strawberry-like appearance - common (due to gallbladder cholesterolosis).
    • Small ridges (microvillus architecture) + yellow.
      • Normal gallbladder mucosa = smooth, green.
  • +/-Congestion/erythema.
  • +/-Wall thickening - typically ~ 6-7 mm.[1]

Note:

  • Wall thickening (due to congestion/edema) is the important gross finding in acute cholecystitis.
  • Wall thickenss greater than 10 mm should raise the suspicion of malignancy.[1]

Microscopic

Features:[2]

  • Thickening of the gallbladder wall - due to fibrosis/muscular hypertrophy - key feature.
  • Chronic inflammatory cells - usu. "minimal".
    • Lymphocytes - most common.
  • Rokitansky-Aschoff sinuses - common.[3]
    • Entrapped epithelial crypts -- pockets of epithelium in the wall of the gallbladder.
  • +/-Foamy macrophages in the lamina propria (cholesterolosis of the gallbladder).

DDx:

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GALLBLADDER, CHOLECYSTECTOMY: 
- CHRONIC CHOLECYSTITIS. 
- CHOLELITHIASIS.

Without stones

GALLBLADDER, CHOLECYSTECTOMY: 
- CHRONIC CHOLECYSTITIS. 
- NO GALLSTONES IDENTIFIED.

Liver present

GALLBLADDER, CHOLECYSTECTOMY: 
- CHRONIC CHOLECYSTITIS. 
- CHOLELITHIASIS.
- SMALL AMOUNT OF LIVER WITHOUT APPARENT PATHOLOGY. 

Micro

The sections shows gallbladder wall with Rokitansky-Aschoff sinuses and a moderate mixed inflammatory infiltrate predominantly consisting of lymphocytes. No nuclear atypia is seen.

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Kim, HJ.; Park, JH.; Park, DI.; Cho, YK.; Sohn, CI.; Jeon, WK.; Kim, BI.; Choi, SH. (Feb 2012). "Clinical usefulness of endoscopic ultrasonography in the differential diagnosis of gallbladder wall thickening.". Dig Dis Sci 57 (2): 508-15. doi:10.1007/s10620-011-1870-0. PMID 21879282.
  2. Iacobuzio-Donahue, Christine A.; Montgomery, Elizabeth A. (2005). Gastrointestinal and Liver Pathology: A Volume in the Foundations in Diagnostic Pathology Series (1st ed.). Churchill Livingstone. pp. 439. ISBN 978-0443066573.
  3. URL: http://www.whonamedit.com/synd.cfm/983.html. Accessed on: 29 October 2011.