Chemical cholecystitis associated with hepatic artery infusion chemotherapy

The gallbladder often is included within the infusion territory during hepatic arterial chemotherapy, because the cystic artery usually originates from the right hepatic artery. Symptomatic cholecystitis associated with hepatic arterial infusion of mitomycin C and floxuridine or 5-fluorouracil was observed in four instances out of over 700 hepatic arterial infusions of chemotherapeutic agents performed over a 3-year period at two institutions. Arterial infusion chemotherapy is generally well tolerated by the gallbladder, and the true incidence of associated cholecystitis is unknown. Occasionally, angiographic features of cholecystitis are observed in asymptomatic patients after hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy.