| • Gallbladder has been opened
displaying the mucosa
• Innumerable tiny (1mm or less) bright yellow dots represent
foci of cholesterol filled macrophages in the mucosa
• No stones are present in this case although it is common to find evidence of chronic cholecystitis and cholelithiasis in these cases |
| Cholesterolosis |
| Etiology |
•Unknown |
| Pathogenesis |
•Unknown |
| Epidemiology |
•Incidental finding |
| Clinical |
•The condition has no clinical significance and is not
associated with any symptoms.
•There is no evidence that cholesterolosis predisposes to cholelithiasis or cholecystitis. |
| General Gross Description |
•Characterized by abnormal deposition of mixtures of
cholesterol and triglyceride in macrophages in the
lamina propria of the gallbladder.
•The accumulating macrophages cause a distinctive bulge
and lift the superficial epithelium overlying them.
•The condition can either be localized or extensive and
diffuse.
•The latter is referred to as a "strawberry gallbladder".
•In a strawberry gallbladder, the mucosa tends to be red, and is flecked with numerous yellowish spots. |
| General Micro Description |
•Histologically, the lesion is characterized by numerous foamy macrophages lying just beneath the columnar epithelium of the gallbladder. |
| Reference |
• Cotran RS, Kumar V, Robbins SL: Robbins Pathologic Basis of Disease. 5th ed. Philadelphia, W.B. Saunders, 1994.
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