ascending cholangitis
Sign in to saveAlso known as acute cholangitis, acute cholangitis (disorder), biliary tree inflammation, biliary treeitis, biliary tract infection, cholangitis
bile duct disease that is an inflammation of the bile duct
Key facts
- Other names
- acute cholangitis, cholangitis
- Specialty
- Gastroenterology , General surgery
- Symptoms
- jaundice , fever and abdominal pain
via Wikipedia infobox
Research
473 papers- Acute Cholangitis: Causes, Diagnosis, and Management.Gastroenterology clinics of North America · 2021
- Acute (ascending) cholangitis.Infectious disease clinics of North America · 2000
- Management of ascending cholangitis.Gastrointestinal endoscopy clinics of North America · 2007
- Acute ascending cholangitis.Clinical journal of oncology nursing · 2004
- Gallbladder Dysfunction: Cholecystitis, Choledocholithiasis, Cholangitis, and Biliary Dyskinesia.Primary care · 2017
via PubMed
~19 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Ascending cholangitis, also known as acute cholangitis or simply cholangitis, is inflammation of the bile duct, usually caused by bacteria ascending from its junction with the duodenum (first part of the small intestine). It tends to occur if the bile duct is already partially obstructed by gallstones.
Cholangitis can be life-threatening, and is regarded as a medical emergency. Characteristic symptoms include yellow discoloration of the skin or whites of the eyes, fever, abdominal pain, and in severe cases, low blood pressure and confusion. Initial treatment is with intravenous fluids and antibiotics, but there is often an underlying problem (such as gallstones or narrowing in the bile duct) for which further tests and treatments may be necessary, usually in the form of endoscopy to relieve obstruction of the bile duct. The word is from Greek chol-, bile + ang-, vessel + -itis, inflammation.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “ascending cholangitis” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.