Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast.

My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be talking to you about acute colangitis.

And you can find written notes on this topic at zero definals.com

slash acute colangitis or in the general surgery section of the zero

de finals surgery book. So let's get straight into it. Acute colangitis is infection and inflammation

in the bile ducts. It's a surgical emergency and it has a high mortality rate due to sepsis

and septicemia.

There are two main causes of acute colangitis.

Firstly, obstruction in the bile ducts stopping the flow of bile,

for example, gallstones in the common bile ducts.

And secondly, infection introduced during an ERCP procedure.

The most common organisms are E. coli, Klebsiella species and enterococcus species.

Let's talk about Charcot's Triad.

Acute colongitis presents with Charco's Triad, which is three things, right upper quadrant pain,

fever and jaundice. And jaundice refers to when a patient has a raised bilirubin.

A tom tip for you, it's worth remembering Sharco's triad. If you see a patient in your exams with fever, raised bilirubin and

write up a quadrant pain, then you know the diagnosis is acute colangitis. Let's talk about

management. Patients with suspected acute colangitis need emergency admission for investigations

and management. Patients need acute management of

sepsis and acute abdomen, and this includes making them nil by mouth, giving IV fluids,

taking blood cultures, giving IV antibiotics according to the local guidelines, and involving

seniors and potentially the high dependency unit

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