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Cholecystitis

Meaning

Cholecystitis is defined as the acute or chronic inflammation of the gallbladder, the small, pear-shaped organ situated beneath the liver that stores and concentrates bile. The condition is overwhelmingly caused by the impaction of a gallstone within the cystic duct, leading to bile stasis and subsequent irritation, chemical injury, or secondary bacterial infection of the gallbladder wall. Patients typically present with severe, sustained pain in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen, often accompanied by fever and nausea. Although primarily a gastrointestinal pathology, its incidence is influenced by sex hormones that alter bile composition.