Gangrenous cholecystitis: five patients with intestinal obstruction

Gangrenous cholecystitis, a disease more common in older patients and diabetics, may be complicated by perforation, pericholecystic abscess, and fistula. Intestinal obstruction has rarely been reported as a complication and only in cases involving perforation or acute, nongangrenous cholecystitis. A retrospective review of hospital records between 1961 and 1989 identified 126 patients with gangrenous cholecystitis, five of whom came to the hospital with intestinal obstruction. Three were cases of paralytic ileus and two of simple mechanical obstruction without perforation. The latter group may represent the first such cases reported. Gallbladder perforation occurred in two patients and cholelithiasis was found in three. The mean age of the total patient cohort was 70.6 years; patients were predominantly male and black. Hypertension and diabetes were common concomitant diseases. Patients commonly came to the hospital with nausea and vomiting, increasing abdominal girth, and obstipation. A leukocytosis on admission was more common than fever or hyperbilirubinemia. The clinical presentation of intestinal obstruction and the lack of objective data specific for gangrenous cholecystitis made a preoperative diagnosis impossible. Thus, a high index of suspicion should increase diagnostic accuracy. The incidence of intestinal obstruction (at presentation) in cases of gangrenous gallbladders was 4 per cent. Morbidity and mortality are reduced with early operation.