D. Casas et al., XANTHOGRANULOMATOUS CHOLECYSTITIS - A RADIOLOGICAL STUDY OF 12 CASES AND A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE, Abdominal imaging, 21(5), 1996, pp. 456-460
Citations number
25
Categorie Soggetti
Gastroenterology & Hepatology","Radiology,Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Background: Twelve cases of xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis (XGC) ar
e presented, and their radiologic appearance is described. Methods. Fo
ur men and eight women, aged 31-82 years old, with XGC were reviewed.
Abdominal ultrasound (US) was performed in all patients. Computed tomo
graphy (CT) was performed in five patients, barium enema examination i
n two, and percutaneously CT-guided fine-needle aspirative biopsy of t
he gallbladder in one. Results: Barium enema examination showed an ind
entation of the hepatic flexure. Cholelithiasis was present in all pat
ients, and sludge was present in six. The gallbladder wall was thicken
ed in all patients, irregular in nine, and could not be properly diffe
rentiated from surrounding liver parenchyma or from other adjacent str
uctures in most patients. A curvilinear halo, hypoechoic on US and wit
h low attenuation on CT, within the gallbladder wall was found in thre
e patients and pericholecystic fluid in two others, On CT, the pericho
lecystic fat had streaky soft tissue densities in three cases, Per cut
aneously CT-guided fine-needle aspirative biopsy of the gallbladder wa
s nondiagnostic. The diagnosis of gallbladder carcinoma was considered
preoperatively In three patients. Conclusion: Despite the characteris
tic histologic appearance of XCG, radiologic findings are nonspecific,
varying from signs observed in other forms of cholecystitis to the ap
pearance of a gallbladder neoplasm.