Review of clinical experience with acute cholecystitis on the development of subsequent gallstone-related complications

Background/aim: Recently, surgery during admission has been advocated for acute cholecystitis, rather than delayed surgery after conservative treatment. This study was designed to perform early surgeries and analyze the criteria used for conservative management followed by delayed surgery. Materials and methods: After implementation of a study with the aim of performing early surgery, a retrospective review using a prospective database during the period of June 2009 to June 2011 was established. Early surgery during index hospitalization was offered to all patients, except those having criteria for conservative management. Results: There were 118 patients admitted for acute cholecystitis. Early and delayed surgeries were performed for 18 (15%) and 23 (20%) patients, respectively. Percutaneous cholecystostomy was performed for 10 (8%) patients with a success rate of 90% and significantly higher length of hospital stay (P = 0.001). Gallstone-related complications developed in 33 (28%) patients, causing significantly higher readmission rates (P = 0.001). Of the patients, 34 (29%) were neither operated on nor had complications. The subsequent cholecystectomy rate was calculated as 35%. The overall mortality rate was 1.7% for all groups. Conclusion: Although surgical treatment of acute cholecystitis, either by early or delayed surgery, has some specific morbidity and mortality, it should be kept in mind that conservative treatment modalities a have higher rate of recurrences and subsequent complications, which all cause additional morbidity and mortality in patients.