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Case Reports
. 2019 Mar 20;12(3):e227826.
doi: 10.1136/bcr-2018-227826.

Abdominal pain and vomiting during pregnancy due to cholesterolosis

Emilie Vj van Limburg Stirum  1 , Maria G van Pampus  1 , Jeroen M Jansen  2 , Erica Wm Janszen  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Abdominal pain and vomiting during pregnancy due to cholesterolosis

Emilie Vj van Limburg Stirum et al. BMJ Case Rep. .

Abstract

We present a 22-year-old pregnant woman at 15 weeks of gestation, with abdominal pain and vomiting. We demonstrate that diagnosis and treatment of vomiting and abdominal pain in pregnancy can be difficult. Therefore, involvement of other medical specialists is important when common treatments fail. Cholesterolosis can cause symptoms similar to those caused by cholelithiasis. Controversial to gallstones, identification of cholesterolosis by ultrasound is hard. Cholecystectomy is the only effective treatment option for cholesterolosis and can be performed safely during pregnancy. Cholecystectomy in pregnancy should be considered if, despite atypical symptoms, gallbladder disease is suspected and other diagnoses are ruled out. This may reduce recurrent symptoms, hospital admissions, exposure to harmful drugs and obstetric complications.

Keywords: gastrointestinal surgery; pancreas and biliary tract; pregnancy.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Pathology of the patient’s gallbladder. Typical macrophages with foamy appearance (foam cells) are marked with blue arrows, indicating cholesterolosis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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