Hemorrhagic cholecystitis. Sonographic appearance and clinical presentation.

In this retrospective study of 19 patients with hemorrhagic cholecystitis, 14 (74%) patients demonstrated one of the following unusual sonographic features: focal gallbladder wall irregularity; intraluminal membranes; coarse, nonshadowing, nonmobile intraluminal echoes. The clinical presentation of these cases (abdominal pain, 100%; leukocytosis, 74%; fever, 63%) is identical to the classic presentation of acute cholecystitis. Overt gastrointestinal bleeding did not occur.