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Clinical features

Authoring team

Possible symptoms of cholecystitis include:

  • pain in the right upper quadrant radiating to the right shoulder
  • nausea
  • vomiting
  • fever

Possible signs include:

  • tenderness over the right upper quadrant
  • tenderness over the gallbladder that is demonstrable on inspiration
  • Boas' sign (hyperaesthesia below the right hypochondrium or 12th rib region)
  • gallbladder is usually impalpable
  • jaundice only occurs in the minority of patients
  • check for Murphy’s sign (where the examiner's hand rests along the costal margin and deep inspiration causes pain).

References

  1. Indar AA, Beckingham IJ. Acute cholecystitis. BMJ. 2002 Sep 21;325(7365):639-43.
  2. Yokoe M, Hata J, Takada T, et al. Tokyo guidelines 2018: diagnostic criteria and severity grading of acute cholecystitis (with videos). J Hepatobiliary Pancreat Sci. 2018 Jan;25(1):41-54.

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The content herein is provided for informational purposes and does not replace the need to apply professional clinical judgement when diagnosing or treating any medical condition. A licensed medical practitioner should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions.

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