Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Definition
By Mayo Clinic staff
Cholecystitis (ko-luh-sis-TIE-tis) is an inflammation of the gallbladder. Your gallbladder is a small, pear-shaped organ on the right side of your abdomen, just beneath your liver. The gallbladder holds a digestive fluid called bile that's released into your small intestine.
In many cases, cholecystitis is caused by gallstones that block the tube leading out of your gallbladder. This results in a buildup of bile that can cause inflammation. Other causes of cholecystitis include infection, injury and tumors.
If left untreated, cholecystitis can lead to serious complications, such as tissue damage, tears in your gallbladder and infection that spreads to other parts of your body. Once diagnosed, cholecystitis requires a hospital stay. Treatment for cholecystitis often eventually includes gallbladder removal.
- Parmet S, et al. Acute cholecystitis: JAMA patient page. The Journal of the American Medical Association. 2003;289:124.
- Cholecystectomy: Surgical removal of the gallbladder. American College of Surgeons. http://www.facs.org/public_info/operation/cholesys.pdf. Accessed July 19, 2009.
- Friedman LS. Liver, biliary tract, & pancreas disorders. In: McPhee SJ, et al. Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment 2009. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill; 2009. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=7993. Accessed July 19, 2009.
- Zakko SF, et al. Treatment of acute cholecystitis. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed July 20, 2009.
- Zakko SF, et al. Clinical features and diagnosis of acute cholecystitis. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed July 20, 2009.
- Greenberger NJ, et al. Diseases of the gallbladder and bile ducts. In: Fauci AS, et al. Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. 17th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill; 2008. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=2874111. Accessed July 19, 2009.
- McKinlay R, et al. Hepatobiliary disorders. In: South-Paul JE, et al. Current Diagnosis & Treatment in Family Medicine. 2nd ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill; 2008. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=3034047. Accessed July 19, 2009.
- Cunningham FG, et al. Hepatic, biliary tract, and pancreatic disorders. In: Cunningham FG, et al. Williams Obstetrics. 22nd ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill; 2005. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=737667. Accessed July 28, 2009.
