title: A case of Crohn's disease involving the gallbladder.
abstract: Crohn's disease is well known to affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract including the oral cavity and anus. Various extraintestinal complications have been reported in Crohn's disease, but extraintestinal involvement characterized by granulomatous lesions is uncommon. Here, we have reported a case about the involvement of the gallbladder in Crohn's disease. A 33-year-old woman was diagnosed having panperitonitis due to intestinal perforation and cholecystitis. The patient was moved to the surgical service for an emergency operation. On the resected specimen, there was a broad longitudinal ulcer at the mesenteric side. The mucosa of the gallbladder was nodular and granular, and the wall was thickened. The surface epithelium of the gallbladder was partially eroded and pyloric gland metaplasia was observed focally. Rokitansky-Aschoff sinuses were also present. From the lamina propria to the subserosal layer, there were several well-formed epithelioid cell granulomas, which were the non-caseating sarcoidal type different from the foreign-body and xanthomatous granulomas. Periodic-acid Schiff and acid fast stains revealed no organism within the granulomas. Lymphoid aggregates were present throughout the gallbladder wall. Sections from the resected ileum showed typical features of the Crohn's disease. When cholecystectomy is performed in a patient with Crohn's disease, the possibility of gallbladder involvement should be carefully examined by histopathological tests.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Surgery and Clinical Laboratory Medicine, Shiga University of Medical Science, Seta Tukinowa, Otsu 520-2192, Japan. andoh@belle.shiga-med.ac.jp
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Andoh
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Endo
authors.forename: Ryoji
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kushima
authors.forename: Kazunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hata
authors.forename: Tomoyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsujikawa
authors.forename: Masaya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: Eiji
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mekata
authors.forename: Toru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tani
authors.forename: Yoshihide
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujiyama
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002764:Cholecystitis / Q000150:complications; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005705:Gallbladder Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D007416:Intestinal Perforation / Q000150:complications; D010538:Peritonitis / Q000209:etiology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed