A RARE COMMON HEPATIC DUCT DIVERTICULUM CAUSING FATAL BILIARY OBSTRUCTION AND SEPSIS

The case of a 59-year-old woman who presented with signs and symptoms of biliary obstruction and cholangitis is reported. The patient's clin ical course was punctuated by recurring sepsis and acute hemorrhagic p ancreatitis. Computed tomography revealed extrinsic compression of the common hepatic duct, which was nonfilling on cholangiography, thus ra ising the suspicion of a solid tumor; the common hepatic duct divertic ulum was not revealed until autopsy. Diverticula in this region of the biliary tract are extremely rare and may, as in this case, present a diagnostic challenge and result in a fatal outcome.