ACUTE CHOLECYSTITIS

Gallstones are common biliary pathology. The Vast majority of subjects are asymptomatic. About 0.2% of the population suffering from gallstones develop acute cholecystitis every year. In case of acute calculous cholecystitis, cholecystectomy can be performed early i.e during the same admission or interval i.e after 6 weeks of conservative management. Objective: To compare the early and interval cholecystectomy in acute calculous cholecystitis for morbidity, postoperative hospital stay, total hospital stay and complications. Study Design: Quasi-experimental study. Setting: Department of Surgery Bahawal Victoria Hospital Bahawalpur. Duration of Study: Two year study from December 2007 to December 2009. Subject and Methods: Sixty patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria were selected for this study. The patients were divided into two groups. Group A patients were managed by early cholecystectomy and group B patients by intervalcholecystectomy. Postoperatively patients were evaluated for postoperative hospital stay, total hospital stay and postoperative complications. Results: The mean age of the patients in group A was 42.2 + 10.7 years and in group B was 42.2+ 10.7 years. The Male to female ratio was 1:4 in both groups. The mean postoperative hospital stay in group A was 4.0+ 1.8days and in group B was 3.8+ 1.4 days. The mean total hospital stayin group A was 6.5 + 1.7 days and in group B was 10.2 + 1.3 days. The P value was less than 0.001, which was significant. In distribution of postoperative complications, in group A there were 1(3.3%) injury to biliary tree, 4(13.3%) wound infection,1(3.3%) wound haematoma, 3 (10%) seroma and 1(3.3%) wound dehiscence. While in group B there were 1(3.3%) injury to biliary tree, 3(10%) wound infection,2 (6.7%) woundhaematoma, 2(6.7%) & no patient of wound dehiscence. Conclusion: Our study suggests that early cholecystectomy is a better treatment option than interval cholecystectomy because it has less total hospital stay, needs single hospital visit and has no risk of developing complications during wait for surgery.