[Acalculous cholecystitis and intestinal cryptosporidiosis: frequent association in HIV patients].

Five cases of acalculous cholecystitis associated with Cryptosporidium intestinal infection in HIV infected patients are reported. Clinical, Biological and Microbiological features as well as imaging studies are described. All the patients were males. Risk factors for HIV infection included previous I.V. drug abuse (3), homosexuality (1) and unknown (1). On admission a similar history of weight loss, fever, abdominal pain, diarrhea, anorexia and asthenia, together with biological data of cholestasis, was present in all patients. Ultrasound studies showed a distended gallbladder without calculi and a thickened wall, the bile duct being dilated in four of five cases. Cryptosporidium were found in stool specimens of all patients as well as histologically in one of two patients who underwent surgery while CMV was shown in the other one. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiography was performed in four cases showing a congestive, edematous and protruded papila in three patients, being normal in the fourth with a choledocal stenosis.