Gallbladder trauma in blunt abdominal trauma a rare presentation and review of literature

Quach Van Kien, Vu Hong Tuan, Nguyen Tra My, Nguyen Thi Thanh Tam, Pham Quang Thai

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Abstract

Gallbladder damage is rare and difficult to diagnose clinically and paraclinically, with a rate of < 2% in blunt abdominal injuries. We present  a clinical case a 63-year-old male patient who consumed alcohol was admitted to the hospital after a motorcycle accident. The patient had abdominal pain in the right flank with an abdominal wall reaction. Through examination, we suspected that the patient had a biliary tract trauma that did not exclude hollow organ rupture and indicated emergency abdominal exploration surgery. During surgery, the gallbladder was found to have ruptured at the base, bile was leaking into the abdominal cavity in addition to the main bile duct, the hollow organs were not injured. Intraoperative diagnosis: Grade II extrahepatic biliary tract trauma according to AAST (gallbladder rupture). The patient had cholecystectomy, and his condition was stable after surgery. Combining a review of the medical literature, we found that gallbladder trauma  is rare, and preoperative diagnosis is difficult due to poor and nonspecific symptoms. Treatment is emergency cholecystectomy with good prognosis.

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References

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