Acute Obstructive Choledocholithiasis: A Case of Elusive Gallstones on Imaging

Acute choledocholithiasis results when stones form in the gallbladder and then pass into the common bile duct, where they may become lodged and cause obstruction. To our knowledge, very few cases are reported in which multiple imaging techniques had failed to detect the presence of gallstones, as per current literature review. We report a case of a 73-year-old woman with nausea, vomiting, and jaundice who was found to have choledocholithiasis with negative imaging on abdominal ultrasound (US), CT, and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP).

Keywords: biliary; choledocholithiasis; endoscopy; gall stones.