Giant gallbladder cyst with acute cholecystitis: a case report

Gallbladder cysts are rare diseases with very few reported cases, and no clinical or histological definition has been established. Furthermore, cases of giant cysts outside the gallbladder wall are extremely rare. We report a rare case of giant gallbladder cyst with acute cholecystitis. An 85-year-old woman with appetite loss and right lower abdominal pain lasting 2 days presented to our hospital. At first, the patient’s abdominal pain was mild to moderate with no fever. Blood tests revealed a white blood cell count of 10,950/mm3, and the C-reactive protein (CRP) level was 14.35 mg/dl. A contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) scan of the abdomen revealed a grossly distended gallbladder (14.5 × 14.5 × 8.7 cm) with an incarcerated stone in the cystic duct. The patient was treated by percutaneous transhepatic gallbladder drainage (PTGBD) with 735 ml of drainage fluid. Oral contrast magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) revealed that gallbladder swelling remained (14.0 × 6.5 cm) 3 days after PTGBD. We performed laparoscopic cholecystectomy 6 days after PTGBD. Because of the severe adhesion around the junction of the cystic and common bile ducts, we performed open cholecystectomy. The resected specimen was 14 × 11 cm in size and consisted of a gallbladder (6 × 7 cm) with a stone (2.4 × 1.8 cm) in the gallbladder and a large cystic lesion (18 × 18 cm) outside the gallbladder wall. The cystic lesion had a wall thickness of 6 to 12 mm and internal septal structures and contained hemorrhagic and necrotic tissue. Histological examination revealed that the specimens showed a mildly swollen gallbladder and a cystic lesion on the outside of the gallbladder wall, adjacent to the gallbladder wall, with wall thickening and inflammation. The cystic lesion suggested gallbladder duplication, gallbladder diverticulum or extension of the Rokitansky-Aschoff sinus (RAS). There was no malignancy. The patient’s postoperative course was uneventful, and she was discharged 5 days after the operation. We present a very rare case of giant gallbladder cyst with acute cholecystitis revealed by cholecystectomy.