title: Acute acalculous cholecystitis caused by Hepatitis C: A rare case report.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Acute acalculous cholecystitis (AAC) is rarely encountered in clinical practice and has a high morbidity and mortality. AAC caused by viral hepatitis, with hepatitis A, B and EBV infections are rare, but well documented in the literature. Hepatitis C virus has not been reported as cause of AAC. This case report documents the first case of AAC associated with Acute Hepatitis C.
  We present a 40 years old female with abdominal pain. She has a history of previous HCV infection. Her liver function tests were markedly deranged with elevated inflammatory markers. USS scan showed rather a very unusual appearance of an inflamed gallbladder with no gallstones and associated acute hepatitis, confirmed by an abdominal CT scan. HCV RNA PCR confirms flair up of the virus. The patient was managed conservatively in the hospital with follow up USS scan and Liver function tests showed complete recovery. Follow up HCV RNA PCR also returned to an undetectable level. The patient recovered completely with no adverse outcomes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This case report is to the first to document the association between acute HCV and AAC. Despite being uncommon in western countries, viral hepatitis should be suspected as a causative agent of AAC, particularly when there is abnormal liver function test and no biliary obstruction.
authors.affiliation: Department of general surgery, Wanganui Hospital, New Zealand. Electronic address: Ahmad_habashi@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Omar
authors.affiliation: Radiology department, Wanganui Hospital, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Medhet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Osman
authors.affiliation: Department of general surgery, Wanganui Hospital, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Gerard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bonnet
authors.affiliation: Department of General Medicine, Wanganui Hospital, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Nafiz
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ghamri
keywords: Acute Hepatitis C; Acute acalculous cholecystitis; case report