Histopathology of acute acalculous cholecystitis in critically ill patients

AIMS: To illustrate the histopathological features of acute acalculous cholecystitis (AAC) of critically ill patients and to compare them with those of acute calculous cholecystitis (ACC) and normal gallbladders. METHODS AND RESULTS: We studied 34 gallbladders with AAC and compared them with 28 cases of ACC and 14 normal gallbladders. Histological features were systematically evaluated. Typical features in AAC were bile infiltration, leucocyte margination of blood vessels and lymphatic dilation. Bile infiltration in the gallbladder wall was more common and extended wider and deeper into the muscle layer in AAC compared with ACC. Epithelial degeneration and defects and widespread occurrence of inflammatory cells were typical features in ACC. Necrosis in the muscle layer was also more common and extended wider and deeper in ACC. There were no differences in the occurrence of capillary thromboses, lymphatic follicles or Rokitansky-Aschoff sinuses between the AAC and ACC samples. CONCLUSIONS: There are characteristic differences in histopathology between AAC and ACC, although due to overlap, none appeared to be specific as such for either condition. These results suggest that AAC is largely a manifestation of systemic critical illness, whereas ACC is a local disease of the gallbladder.     

Acute acalculous cholecystitis in patients with surgical acute renal failure

Acute acalculous cholecystitis (AAC) developed in 11 (7.7%) of 143 patients with surgical acute renal failure (ARF) who had no prior biliary tract disease. The cause of this potentially fatal complication is multifactorial and include trauma, previous surgery, sepsis, intermittent positive pressure ventilation, total parenteral nutrition, multiple transfusions, hypotension, and opiate sedation. The diagnosis of AAC was based on clinical suspicion, ultrasound scanning, and laboratory tests (leukocyte count, liver enzymes, bilirubin and C-reactive protein). All our ARF patients with AAC were receiving antibiotics at the time of diagnosis. Five patients were treated conservatively and six underwent cholecystectomy. The mortality rate in our ARF patients with AAC was 45.5%, and was not significantly different from than in ARF patients without AAC. The diagnosis of AAC should be made early, and judicious management (conservative or surgical) decreases its role as a contributory factor to the mortality in ARF patients.     

Disseminated cytomegalovirus infection presenting with acalculous cholecystitis and acute pancreatitis

Disseminated cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection occurs predominantly in immunocompromised hosts. Symptomatic CMV cholecystitis and pancreatitis are quite rare, and, to our knowledge, there are no reports of these occurring simultaneously. We describe a patient with a history of chronic myelogenous leukemia (treated with chemotherapy) who presented with recurrent unexplained fevers and an acute abdomen. At surgery, cholecystitis and pancreatitis were found, and a cholecystectomy was performed. The patient developed disseminated intravascular coagulation, eventual sepsis, and multiorgan failure. At autopsy, widespread disseminated CMV infection was found, with CMV-associated foci of acute inflammation and necrosis in the pancreas and in the surgically resected gallbladder. A review of our autopsy files revealed only one renal transplant patient with CMV inclusions and chronic pancreatitis. No pancreatitis was seen in 27 patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Cytomegalovirus should be considered as a possible cause of pancreatitis and cholecystitis in immunocompromised patients.     

Metabolomic study of serum from rabbits with acute acalculous cholecystitis

Objectives

¹H-NMR is a powerful approach of metabolomics. This study aimed to apply it to detect the serum metabolites in rabbits with acute acalculous cholecystitis (AAC), and to analyze their potential roles in AAC.

Methods

Fourteen rabbits were randomly divided into two groups, the AAC group and the CON group. In the AAC rabbit model, Escherichia coli solution was injected into the gallbladder, while same volume of saline, instead of E. coli solution, was injected into the gallbladder of the CON rabbit. General morphological, light microscopic and transmission electron microscopic observations were used to evaluate the model. Metabolic profiles of serum from rabbits with AAC were investigated through ¹H-NMR spectroscopy coupled with multivariate statistical analysis, such as principal components analysis and orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis.

Results

The pathohistology of gallbladders showed a significant difference between the two groups, proving the successful induction of inflammation in the gallbladders of the AAC group. The serum concentration of lipids (LDL and VLDL) increased during AAC, while the concentrations of phospholipids, lactic acid, 3-hydroxybutyric acid, lysine, citric acid, asparagine, histidine, glucose and some other small molecular metabolites decreased.

Conclusion

The profiling of serum metabolites in rabbits with acute acalculous cholecystitis changed significantly. These changes referred to the metabolic disturbance of carbohydrate, amino acids and lipids, inhibition of immunological functions and inflammation reaction.     

First detection of acalculous cholecystitis associated with Sarcocystis infection in a patient with AIDS

Acalculous cholecystitis and cholangitis are increasingly being recognized as complications of AIDS. The opportunistic parasites that have been most commonly associated with these disorders are Cryptosporidium species, Isospora belli, Cyclospora cayetanensis and Enterocytozoon bieneusi. The authors performed a parasitological survey on the gallbladder tissue sections of patients underwent cholecystectomy due to chronic acalculous cholecystitis at the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Light microscopic investigation in more than three hundred archived histopathological slides revealed the presence of sexual stages (i.e., mature sporocysts) of a coccidial protozoan in a patient with AIDS who developed acalculous cholecystitis as confirmed by histological, parasitological and molecular tests in which Sarcocystis species was the only identifiable pathogen in gallbladder sections. In the best of our knowledge it’s the first documented case of chronic non-calculous cholecystitis due to Sarcocystis parasite in an Iranian AIDS patient from worldwide.     

A case of Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever complicated with acalculous cholecystitis and intraabdominal abscess

Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever is a fatal systemic viral infection which is an important health problem in Turkey. Since it leads to diffuse endothelial damage, many complications can be seen during the course of the disease. We report here an atypical presentation of CCHF with acute acalculous cholecystitis and intraabdominal abscess.     

Lipid deposits and lipo-mucosomes in human cholecystitis and epithelial metaplasia in chronic cholecystitis

Among the inflammatory changes seen in cholecystitis, the ultrastructural alterations of the human gallbladder epithelium include lipid and lipofuscin deposits, fusions of lipid deposits and mucus-containing vesicles forming complex substructural formations called lipo-mucosomes, and microvillar changes of sparse microvilli and basal bodies. Small, lipid-laden structures, such as VLDL-like vesicles, also are fused with the mucus vesicles. Epithelial cell sloughing could liberate and add lipo-mucosomes to the biliary sludge and participate in gallstone formation. With chronic cholelithiasis, fatty degeneration of scattered epithelial cells appears to alter the epithelial lining and favors metaplastic change that could lead to other pathologic changes, including carcinoma in situ-like lesions. In addition to lipid deposition in macrophages, lipid is also incorporated in other cells and tissues of the gallbladder wall (endothelium of capillaries, smooth muscles and fibrocytes).     

Induction of acalculous cholecystitis and pneumonitis in dogs following inhalation of constituents of cigarette smoke condensate.

In previous studies in this laboratory it was demonstrated that 1) constituents of the water-soluble phase of cigarette smoke condensate can activate Hageman-factor-dependent pathways of coagulation, fibrinolysis, and kinin generation; and 2) that in vivo activation of Hageman-factor-dependent pathways by intravenous injection of plant polyphenols in dogs and AFrican Green monkeys can induce acute acalculous cholecystitis and alveolitis. The purpose of this communication is to report that inhalation of the water-soluble, nondialyzable constituents of cigarette smoke condensate, or "tar," can activate Hageman-factor-dependent pathways in the dog and induce acute acalculous cholecystitis, pneumonitis, and the formation of thrombi in branches of pulmonary vessels.