Case Report: Cholelithiasis in Severe Mediterranean (Cooley’s) Anemia

A case of cholelithiasis is reported in a child with the severe form of Mediterranean anemia. The patient was one of a group of children with this disease but without biliary tract symptoms on whom a roentgenographic survey was carried out. Cholecystitis subsequently occurred in this patient, and a cholecystectomy was performed.

Cholelithiasis occurs as a complication of severe Mediterranean anemia, less frequently than in spherocytic or in sickle cell anemia but on a comparable etiologic basis.