Cholelithiasis in sickle cell disease -a case report

Abstract

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of heterogeneous inherited disorders of haemoglobin structure which results in various physiologic derangements and multisystemic complications. An important long-term complication of chronic hemolysis is gallstone formation (cholelithiasis). Symptomatic gall stones may present in the form of acute abdomen or abdominal pain that mimics abdominal vaso-occlusive crisis. Early recognition of vulnerable children with cholelithiasis improves patients' care and reduces morbidities. We report the case of a 14-year-old male sickle cell anaemia patient with acute calculus cholecystitis; to create awareness of the possibilities of symptomatic cholelithiasis which presents like other gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary pathologies in SCD.