A rare case of isolated traumatic injury to the gall bladder has prompted doctors to remind clinicians to consider the diagnosis, especially in young men with a history of alcohol abuse. 

Their 27-year-old male patient presented to ED with abdominal pain associated with eating solid food three days after a snowmobile accident, when he was thrown into a tree at speeds of up to 100km/h. 

His abdomen was the primary impact site but there was no loss of consciousness, and he initially went home after the accident, the US doctors report. 

In the ED, they noted moderate right upper quadrant tenderness with guarding resembling localised peritonitis of the right hemiabdomen but no other signs of injury.