Spontaneous Cholecysto-Cutaneous Fistula Complicating Carcinoma of the Gall Bladder: A Case Report

Most cholecystocutaneous fistulas are postoperative complications of liver and biliary tract surgery or trauma. External biliary fistulas rarely occur spontaneously as a result of intrahepatic abscess (pyogenic or parasitic), necrosis or perforation of the gallbladder, or other inflammatory process involving the biliary tree. A cholecystocutaneous fistula as a presentation of an underlying cancer arising from the gall bladder is an extremely uncommon finding. Over the past 50 years fewer than 20 cases of spontaneous cholecystocutaneous fistulas have been described in the medical literature but so far there has been no published report of a cholecystocutaneous fistula arising from adenocarcinoma of gall bladder. We here report a case of a patient presenting with spontaneous cholecystocutaneous fistula from cancer of gall bladder.