Abstract
Acute acalculous cholecystitis was observed to increase in frequency between 1950 and 1979, an increase that was statistically significant. The greatest part of this increase occurred between 1965 and 1979. Acute acalculous cholecystitis was also found to be associated with a higher mortality rate, more than twice that of acute calculous cholecystitis. Acute acalculous cholecystitis occurred in a variety of clinical settings including bacterial sepsis, severe trauma including surgical trauma and burns, multiple transfusions, and severe debilitation. The lesion in the gallbladder consists of intense injury of blood vessels in the muscularis and serosa similar to those induced experimentally by in vivo activation of factor XII dependent pathways. Possibly because of the intensity of vascular injury, acute acalculous cholecystitis with minimal clinical manifestations may rapidly progress to gangrene with perforation. Undelayed surgical treatment, which has become more widely accepted over the past 50 years, is essential. It may have also contributed to the increased recognition of this clinical entity.
Full text
PDF
Images in this article
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Alving B. M., Hojima Y., Pisano J. J., Mason B. L., Buckingham R. E., Jr, Mozen M. M., Finlayson J. S. Hypotension associated with prekallikrein activator (Hageman-factor fragments) in plasma protein fraction. N Engl J Med. 1978 Jul 13;299(2):66–70. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197807132990203. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Becker C. G., Dubin T. Activation of factor XII by tobacco glycoprotein. J Exp Med. 1977 Aug 1;146(2):457–467. doi: 10.1084/jem.146.2.457. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Bouma B. N., Kerbiriou D. M., Vlooswijk R. A., Griffin J. H. Immunological studies of prekallikrein, kallikrein, and high-molecular-weight kininogen in normal and deficient plasmas and in normal plasma after cold-dependent activation. J Lab Clin Med. 1980 Oct;96(4):693–709. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gitel S. N., Stephenson R. C., Wessler S. The activated factor X-antithrombin III reaction rate: a measure of the increased thrombotic tendency induced by estrogen-containing oral contraceptives in rabbits. Haemostasis. 1978;7(1):10–18. doi: 10.1159/000214227. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Glenn F. Acute acalculous cholecystitis. Ann Surg. 1979 Apr;189(4):458–465. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Golden G. T., Sears H. F., 2nd, Wangensteen S. L. Post-traumatic cholecystitis. Am Surg. 1973 May;39(5):275–278. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gordon E. M., Ratnoff O. D., Saito H., Donaldson V. H., Pensky J., Jones P. K. Rapid fibrinolysis, augmented Hageman factor (factor XII) titers, and decreased C1 esterase inhibitor titers in women taking oral contraceptives. J Lab Clin Med. 1980 Nov;96(5):762–769. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Kozono K., Yamamoto T., Kambara T. A proteaselike permeability factor in guinea pig skin: contact activation of the latent permeability factor and its nature as a prekallikrein activator. Am J Pathol. 1980 Sep;100(3):619–632. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lindberg E. F., Grinnan G. L., Smith L. Acalculous cholecystitis in Viet Nam casualties. Ann Surg. 1970 Jan;171(1):152–157. doi: 10.1097/00000658-197001000-00022. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Mann F. C. THE PRODUCTION BY CHEMICAL MEANS OF A SPECIFIC CHOLECYSTITIS. Ann Surg. 1921 Jan;73(1):54–57. doi: 10.1097/00000658-192101000-00008. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Morrison D. C., Cochrane C. G. Direct evidence for Hageman factor (factor XII) activation by bacterial lipopolysaccharides (endotoxins). J Exp Med. 1974 Sep 1;140(3):797–811. doi: 10.1084/jem.140.3.797. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Wilner G. D., Nossel H. L., LeRoy E. C. Activation of Hageman factor by collagen. J Clin Invest. 1968 Dec;47(12):2608–2615. doi: 10.1172/JCI105943. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]