Journal of infectious diseases and diagnosis is an open access rapid peer reviewed journal in the field of Bacterial, Viral and Fungal Diseases. It is a bimonthly journal.

Ascending cholangitis, also known as acute cholangitis or simply cholangitis, is a form of bile duct inflammation caused by bacteria ascending from the junction with the duodenum which is the first part of the small intestine. If the bile duct is partly obstructed by gallstones, it is more likely to happen.

Cholangitis is a medical emergency since it can be life-threatening. Yellow discoloration of the skin or whites of the eyes, fever, abdominal pain, and, in extreme cases, low blood pressure and confusion are all common symptoms. Initial care consists of intravenous fluids and antibiotics, but there is often an underlying condition that necessitates further testing and treatments.

Symptoms

Signs and symptoms of Ascending cholangitis include:

• abdominal pain particularly in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen
• Fevers
• Rigors (uncontrollable shaking)
• feeling of uneasiness (malaise)
• Jaundice (yellow discoloration of the skin and the whites of the eyes)

Causes

Bile duct obstruction, which is usually present in acute cholangitis, is generally due to gallstones. 10–30% of cases, however, are due to other causes such as benign stricturing (narrowing of the bile duct without an underlying tumor), postoperative damage or an altered structure of the bile ducts such as narrowing at the site of an anastomosis, various tumors such as cancer of the bile duct, gallbladder cancer, pancreatic cancer, cancer of the duodenum, anaerobic organisms such as Clostridium and bacteroides

Treatment

Fluids and antibiotics Chemotherapy

Cholangitis requires admission to hospital. Intravenous fluids are administered, especially if the blood pressure is low, and antibiotics are commenced. Empirical treatment with broad-spectrum antibiotics is usually necessary until it is known for certain which pathogen is causing the infection, and to which antibiotics it is sensitive.

Endoscopy Immunotherapy

Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is the most common approach in unblocking the bile duct. This involves endoscopy passing a fiberoptic tube through the stomach into the duodenum, identification of the ampulla of Vater and insertion of a small tube into the bile duct.

Percutaneous biliary drainage

In cases where a person is too ill to tolerate endoscopy or when a retrograde endoscopic approach fails to access the obstruction, a Percutaneous Transhepatic Cholangiogram (PTC) may be performed to evaluate the biliary system for placement of a Percutaneous Biliary Drain (PBD) This is often necessary in the case of a proximal stricture or a bilioenteric anastomosis

Cholecystectomy

Not all gallstones implicated in ascending cholangitis actually originate from the gallbladder, but cholecystectomy i.e surgical removal of the gallbladder is generally recommended in people who have been treated for cholangitis due to gallstone disease.

Journal of infectious diseases and diagnosis announces papers for the upcoming issue. Interested can submit their manuscript through online portal

Submit manuscript at http://www.longdom.org/submissions/infectious-diseases-diagnosis.html or send as an e-mail attachment to the Editorial Office at editor.jidd@longdomjournal.org

Media contact:

Eliza Grace

Managing Editor

Journal of Infectious Diseases and Diagnosis

Mail ID: editor.jidd@longdomjournal.org