• Findings identical to acute calculous cholecystitis (except for absence of gallstones)
Ultrasound often equivocal due to inability to elicit sonographic Murphy sign in intubated/unconscious patients
• Thickening of GB wall > 3 mm
Higher thresholds increase specificity, but decrease sensitivity
– Using cutoff value of 3 mm leads to better sensitivity but lower specificity
– Using cutoff value of 4 mm (or 5 mm) leads to better specificity at the cost of having more false-negative cases
Striated appearance of wall is common (no longer thought to be suggestive of gangrenous cholecystitis)
• Positive sonographic Murphy sign (pain with insonation over GB that is accentuated with deep breathing)
May be absent or impossible to elicit in critically ill ICU patients at highest risk for acalculous acute cholecystitis
• GB distention (> 5 cm in transverse plane)
• Pericholecystic echogenic fat (due to inflammation)
• GB wall hyperemia on color Doppler images
• Complications
Gangrenous cholecystitis: Asymmetric wall thickening, intraluminal linear membranes, and echogenic material due to sloughed mucosa and irregularity/ulcerations of GB wall
– May not be associated with wall hyperemia due to necrosis
Emphysematous cholecystitis: Intramural and intraluminal gas with multiple bright echogenic reflectors and “dirty” posterior acoustic shadowing
– Champagne sign: Tiny, nonshadowing echogenic foci rising up in real-time from dependent portion of GB
Perforated GB: Collapsed GB with discrete wall defect and adjacent pericholecystic fluid collection ± complex fluid in peritoneal cavity
– Most common site of perforation is fundus, which can be difficult to visualize in some patients
– Sonographic hole sign: Visualization of defect in GB wall is more easily diagnosed on CT
Hemorrhagic cholecystitis: Echogenic clot within GB
CT Findings
• Imaging findings are identical to acute calculous cholecystitis (except for absence of gallstones)
• Uncomplicated acalculous cholecystitis
GB wall thickening (> 3 mm) with mural and mucosal hyperenhancement
– May be associated with intramural lucency caused by wall edema (subserosal halo sign)
Pericholecystic fluid and fat stranding
Hyperenhancement of liver adjacent to GB (most apparent in arterial phase)
Dilated GB (> 5 cm in diameter)
• Complicated acalculous cholecystitis
Gangrenous cholecystitis: Hypoenhancement or nonenhancement of portions of GB wall
– May be associated with small sites of ulceration or outpouchings in GB wall
– Often associated with asymmetric wall thickening
– Intraluminal linear strands due to sloughed mucosa
Emphysematous cholecystitis: Intramural or intraluminal gas with other findings of cholecystitis
Hemorrhagic cholecystitis: High-density blood within GB ± blood in intrahepatic/extrahepatic ducts
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