This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Sign in
Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

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.

Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Create a free account

Add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation, such as a web address or phone number. This information will always be displayed when you visit this page

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.

Connect

Copyright 2024 Oxbridge Solutions Limited, a subsidiary of OmniaMed Communications Limited. All rights reserved. Any distribution or duplication of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited. Oxbridge Solutions receives funding from advertising but maintains editorial independence.