Percutaneous cholecystostomy in critically ill patients: early response and final outcome in 82 patients.

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Abstract
Patients in the intensive care unit are at increased risk of developing acute calculous and acalculous cholecystitis. Diagnosis based on clinical and sonographic findings is difficult in the presence of severe intercurrent disease. We did a study to evaluate the efficacy of percutaneous cholecystostomy as a diagnostic and therapeutic maneuver in 82 patients in the intensive care unit who had persistent unexplained sepsis.Eighty-two patients with unexplained sepsis underwent percutaneous cholecystostomy after a complete clinical, laboratory, and radiologic search showed no source of sepsis outside the gallbladder. All patients were febrile, 65 had an increased WBC count, and 37 were receiving vasopressors. Sonographic abnormalities included a distended gallbladder (71 patients), sludge (63 patients), gallstones (26 patients), wall thickening (34 patients), pericholecystic fluid (25 patients), and Murphy's sign (19 patients).Sonographic findings were not helpful in predicting response to percutaneous cholec...

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