[Biliary peritonitis: diagnostic and therapeutic aspects].

Aims: The aim was to describe the diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of biliary peritonitis.

Patients and methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study with retrospective collection over a period of 10 years including patients operated on for biliary peritonitis.

Results: We collected 10 cases of biliary peritonitis with an average age of 38 years with a sex ratio of 2.3. Two patients presented with an abdominal contusion following a road traffic accident. Maximum abdominal pain in the right hypochondrium was present in three patients, signs of peritoneal irritation in all patients, positive Widal and Felix serodiagnosis in eight patients. At midline laparotomy, the gallbladder was perforated in three patients, gangrenous in five, phlegmonous in one, sclero-atrophic in one. Cholecystectomy was performed in all patients. Biliary peritonitis was of traumatic origin in two patients, and typhoid in eight. Postoperatively, there were four cases of sepsis and three cases of parietal suppuration. Three patients died.

Conclusion: Biliary peritonitis discovered during laparotomies for peritonitis, was secondary to typhoid cholecystitis, and had a high morbidity and mortality.