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. 1980 Mar;191(3):264–270. doi: 10.1097/00000658-198003000-00002

Acute cholangitis.

J H Boey, L W Way
PMCID: PMC1344694  PMID: 7362292

Abstract

The features of cholangitis were analyzed in 99 consecutive cases treated in the last ten years. The disease was severe and refractory in half the cases due to malignant stricture, and in 20% of those due to gallstones. Benign strictures, sclerosing cholangitis, and most cases of choledocholithiasis were associated with less severe cholangitis, which responded promptly to antibiotic therapy. High fever, a serum bilirubin level above 4 mg/dl, and hypotension characterized the most severe refractory cases in which emergency surgery was mandatory. Patients without manifestations were nearly always controlled successfully with antibiotics. We conclude that the term "suppurative cholangitis" is an unsatisfactory synonym for severe cholangitis, because the correlation between biliary suppuration and clinical manifestations in cholangitis is inexact; some patients with severe sepsis do not have pus in the bile duct, and a few patients with suppurative bile are only moderately ill.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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