The gall­blad­der is a small organ con­nec­ted to the liver. It stores the bile pro­duced in your liver, and releases it into your small intest­ines to help digest fat.

Around 95% of cases of acute cholecyst­itis are due to gall­stones or bil­i­ary sludge (a mix­ture of bile and other mat­ter) becom­ing trapped at the open­ing of the gallbladder.

The other 5% of cases usu­ally involve people who have been treated in hos­pital for trauma or acute bil­i­ary ill­ness (ill­ness relat­ing to bile or the liver).

Symp­toms of acute cholecystitis

gallstones2 Inflammation of the gallbladder Acute cholecystitisThe most com­mon symp­tom of acute cholecyst­itis is pain on the right hand side of your upper body. The pain is usu­ally sud­den, con­stant and severe.

Other symp­toms can include one or more of the following:

  1. a slightly raised tem­per­at­ure (of around 37-38C),
  2. ten­der­ness in the upper right hand side of your body,
  3. anor­exia,
  4. nausea,
  5. vomit­ing,
  6. sweat­ing.

Causes of acute cholecystitis 

Most cases of acute cholecyst­itis are caused by gall­stones or bil­i­ary sludge becom­ing trapped at the open­ing of the gallbladder.

The fol­low­ing factors can make gall­stones more likely to form:

  1. preg­nancy,
  2. obesity,
  3. increas­ing age,
  4. rapid weight loss,
  5. dia­betes,
  6. Crohn’s dis­ease,
  7. hyper­lip­id­aemia,
  8. a his­tory of gall­stones in your mother’s family.

Dia­gnos­ing acute cholecystitis

If your doc­tor sus­pects acute cholecyst­itis, they may exam­ine you to see how tender your gall­blad­der is.

The major­ity of people who have acute cholecyst­itis have a his­tory of gall­stones, so your doc­tor is likely to ask you whether you have pre­vi­ously had gallstones.

An ultra­sound and blood tests may be needed to con­firm the dia­gnosis, but these are usu­ally done in hospital.

As acute cholecyst­itis is a ser­i­ous con­di­tion, you are likely to be admit­ted to hos­pital straight away for con­firm­a­tion of the dia­gnosis, mon­it­or­ing and treatment.

Treat­ing acute cholecystitis 

Treat­ment for acute cholecyst­itis is usu­ally provided in hospital.

If your doc­tor sus­pects you have this con­di­tion, they are likely to admit you to hos­pital straight away so that the dia­gnosis can be con­firmed and you can receive treatment.

Treat­ment usu­ally con­sists of:

  1. intra­ven­ous flu­ids (flu­ids that enter your sys­tem through a very thin tube, which is con­nec­ted to a fine needle, that goes into your vein),
  2. anti­bi­ot­ics,
  3. anal­gesia (pain-relieving drugs).

Com­plic­a­tions of acute cholecystitis

If acute cholecyst­itis is not treated, there can be com­plic­a­tions, such as:

  1. per­for­a­tion of the gallbladder,
  2. bil­i­ary peritonitis,
  3. perich­olecystic abscess,

fis­tula (between the gall­blad­der and duodenum).