More than 200 000 individuals in the US develop acute cholecystitis annually. The majority of these cases are caused by gallstones blocking the cystic duct. However, about 5% to 10% of people with acute cholecystitis have acalculous cholecystitis. JAMA Associate Editor Kristin Walter, MD, MS, discusses the recent JAMA article "Acute Cholecystitis: A Review" with one of the authors, JAMA Associate Editor Anthony Charles, MD, MPH, who is Chief of the Division of Trauma, Critical Care and Acute Care Surgery, Director of the ECMO program, and Director of Global Surgery at University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.