[Visible Courvoisier's sign: a rare presentation of bile duct obstruction].

Courvoisier's sign was described by a Swiss surgeon Ludwig Courvoisier in 1890. The sign is represented by the presence of painless jaundice with a palpable non-tender gallbladder. The pathophysiological mechanism of Courvoisier's sign is the obstruction of the bile tract caused by malignancy, stones or other rare etiologic factors. We describe an 81-year-old man with malignant neoplasm of the pancreas complicated by common bile duct obstruction. The latter leads to both a palpable and visible gallbladder. Various aspects of this extremely rare variant of Courvoisier's sign are discussed.