The honeycomb gallbladder: a new category of acquired pseudo-multiseptate gallbladder

Abstract

We report two cases of honeycomb gallbladder as a new category of acquired pseudo-multiseptate gallbladder associated with chronic cholecystitis with stones. The two patients were elderly women without any abdominal symptoms or abnormality of laboratory data. On the imaging examinations, a hyperechoic collection with acoustic shadowing on the inferior surface of the liver was typically observed on ultrasonography, with multiloculated gallbladder being observed on computed tomography. Macroscopic findings of the cut plane of the gallbladder showed a characteristic appearance, with thin pseudo-septations arising from the wall and bridging the lumen from side to side, with a honeycomb appearance, including small stones. Microscopic findings suggest that these septational structures could have developed over a chronic inflammatory course after acute obstruction of the cystic duct. Cholecystectomy should be the choice of treatment for honeycomb gallbladder from the viewpoint of clinical management.