What happened, in summary

A 60-year-old man with more than a year of upper-abdominal pain was diagnosed with poorly differentiated gastric adenocarcinoma. He underwent total gastrectomy with lymph-node dissection and Roux-en-Y reconstruction. His initial postoperative recovery was uncomplicated, and he went home on day 9.

Ten days after surgery, he developed high fever, nausea and upper-abdominal discomfort. Imaging later showed a swollen gallbladder and surrounding fluid without gallstones. His condition deteriorated rapidly into septic shock despite antibiotics. Emergency surgery found a severely inflamed gallbladder with gangrenous areas. Because the gallbladder was densely stuck to nearby tissues, a drainage procedure was performed rather than full removal.

His temperature normalized after surgery, and he recovered with continued antibiotics and supportive care. He was discharged 14 days after the emergency operation. Two months later, the drainage tube was successfully removed and he had no further related discomfort.