Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Exp Med. Sep 20, 2025; 15(3): 107248
Published online Sep 20, 2025. doi: 10.5493/wjem.v15.i3.107248
Incidental gallbladder mucocele mimicking acute cholecystitis: A case report and review of literature
Aran Thiravialingam, Karthik Sriganeshan, Hisham F Bahmad, Francesca Polit, Asma Ahmed, Devendra Joshi, Robert Poppiti
Aran Thiravialingam, Karthik Sriganeshan, Robert Poppiti, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, United States
Hisham F Bahmad, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136, United States
Hisham F Bahmad, Francesca Polit, Robert Poppiti, Arkadi M. Rywlin M.D. Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, FL 33140, United States
Asma Ahmed, Devendra Joshi, Department of General Surgery, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, FL 33140, United States
Co-first authors: Aran Thiravialingam and Karthik Sriganeshan.
Author contributions: Thiravialingam A and Sriganeshan K made equal contributions as co-first authors; Thiravialingam A, Sriganeshan K, Bahmad HF, Polit F, and Ahmed A wrote the original draft of the case report; Bahmad HF worked on the case report conception and the data collection, pathological slides review and data analysis, and histology figures and figure illustrations; Bahmad HF and Polit F were responsible for getting the clinical data from medical records of the hospital; Joshi D and Poppiti R provided explanations about the case reported; Poppiti R was responsible for the study supervision; All authors critically revised and edited the manuscript prior to approving the final draft of the manuscript.
Informed consent statement: Informed-consent statement obtained from patient.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Hisham F Bahmad, MD, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, 1611 NW 12th Avenue, Holtz Center, Room 2147, Miami, FL 33136, United States. hfbahmad@gmail.com
Received: March 19, 2025
Revised: April 27, 2025
Accepted: June 3, 2025
Published online: September 20, 2025
Processing time: 146 Days and 17.8 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Gallbladder mucocele (GBM) is a rare condition characterized by gallbladder distension due to mucus accumulation, often mimicking acute cholecystitis. This case report presents a 67-year-old woman diagnosed incidentally with GBM following cholecystectomy. A comprehensive literature review of 27 cases highlights diverse etiologies, clinical presentations, and optimal management strategies. Early diagnosis and elective surgical intervention are crucial for preventing complications. This study contributes to surgical literature by consolidating findings on GBM and proposing evidence-based management pathways.