A rare common hepatic duct diverticulum causing fatal biliary obstruction and sepsis

The case of a 59-year-old woman who presented with signs and symptoms of biliary obstruction and cholangitis is reported. The patient's clinical course was punctuated by recurring sepsis and acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis. Computed tomography revealed extrinsic compression of the common hepatic duct, which was nonfilling on cholangiography, thus raising the suspicion of a solid tumor; the common hepatic duct diverticulum was not revealed until autopsy. Diverticula in this region of the biliary tract are extremely rare and may, as in this case, present a diagnostic challenge and result in a fatal outcome.