An 86-year-old woman, 4 days post-operative following a right-sided Austin-Moore arthroplasty, reported abdominal pain around a known umbilical hernia and became increasingly confused. A diagnosis of incarcerated umbilical hernia was made. At surgery, on entering the peritoneal cavity, bile was immediately noted. The operation was converted to a laparotomy and a perforation was noted in the gallbladder. An open cholecystectomy was performed. Macroscopically the gallbladder was perforated in multiple places, was thin walled and did not contain gallstones. This case demonstrates the difficulty in diagnosing an apparently spontaneous gallbladder perforation in a cognitively frail patient.
2014 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.