A case of hemorrhagic gallbladder paraganglioma causing acute cholecystitis

Gallbladder paraganglioma is a very rare tumor and so far only a few cases have been reported. Most of these were asymptomatic and were found incident ally during operation. Recently, we experienced a gallbladder paraganglioma that gave rise to hemorrhage, which in turn caused acute cholecystitis. Ou r case involved a 45 year-old female patient complaining of an intermittent right upper abdominal pain. After a preoperative evaluation, cholecystecto my and lymphadenectomy were performed under the impression of gallbladder c ancer with acute cholecystitis. Postoperative pathologic examination reveal ed a hemorrhagic gallbladder paraganglioma accompanied by acute cholecystit is. Immunohistochemical staining of the chief cells for neuron specific eno lase, chromogranin and synaptophysin were: positive. Sustentacular cells al so stained positively for S100 protein.