Acute Cholangitis Secondary to Surgical Clip Migration 18 Years After Cholecystectomy: A Case Report

Gallstone disease is a common condition and reason for consultation and hospitalizations. The standard of care is laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Early complications include bile duct injury and retained stone, and chronic complications include bile duct stricture and clip migration. It is important for clinicians to be aware of such complications as they can occur long after surgery. We report an interesting case of clip migration resulting in acute cholangitis, 18 years after laparoscopic cholecystectomy and review the literature on this interesting phenomenon of a commonly performed surgery. The diagnosis of clip migration in our case was suspected on abdominal radiograph and confirmed on endoscopic stone extraction.