Acalculous cholecystitis is a disease of the gallbladder.
Cholecystitis means inflammation of the gallbladder. It is usually caused by gallstones that irritate the gallbladder or block one of the ducts that drain the bile from the gallbladder to the bowel. The medical term for stone is calculi.
What most people don’t realize is that it is possible to have cholecystitis without the presence of stones; hence the name a-calculous cholecystitis. It typically occurs in trauma patients or patients who have not eaten for a prolonged period of time, but very occasionally can be seen in non-hospitalized patients.
Acalculous cholecystitis is most easily diagnosed by an ultrasound test, which is a sound probe that emits harmless sound waves and records how they move through tissue. Ultrasound findings that indicate gallbladder disease without the presence of stones are abnormal fluid around the gallbladder (pericholecystic fluid), increased wall thickness of the gallbladder, and sludge inside the gallbladder, known as biliary sludge.
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