Some gallbladder-like pain demystified: three cases.

Over the course of the past several years, I have seen a number patients with intense pain in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen-classic "gallbladder" pain-for which no medical explanation could be found. These patients had been thoroughly checked by their physicians with diagnostic evaluations generally including sonograms and magnetic resonance imagings (MRIs) that were negative, adding to the mystery of the symptoms. Referred to me because acupuncture has a reputation of "being good for pain," these patients were in search of an explanation for and relief from their pain-pain that seemed to have no organic source. Described here are two cases of gallbladder-like pain with no medical diagnosis and one case of acute gallbladder pain with a diagnosis of acute cholecystitis and sludge confirmed on MRI. All three patients were free of pain after acupuncture treatment. Following the cases is a discussion of the rationale behind the approach used.