Acalculous cholecystitis: complication of pediatric systemic lupus erythematosus.

Abstract

This is a 12 year old girl with systemic lupus erythematosus diagnosed since 9 years of age, who came in to the University Hospital in Cali Colombia with epigastric abdominal pain. Clinical and serological evidence of lupus activation was found at the admittance. Initial abdominal ultrasound was normal, and upper endoscopy showed antral gastritis. Treatment with omeprasol and diet was established. The patient did not improved and a second abdominal ultrasound was done 6 days later, which showed increased gallbladder wall thickness without gallstones. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy was performed, with improvement of the patient condition. Pathology showed evidence of vasculitis in midium size arteries of the gallbladder. Acalculous cholecystitis by vasculitis is a rare complication of adult patients with lupus and only one pediatric patient has been describe in the literature. We report the case and review the literature.