Early versus delayed cholecystectomy in acute cholecystitis: a comparative study in a tertiary care hospital

Abstract

Acute cholecystitis is a fairly common condition, consisting of acute inflammation of gallbladder and usually associated with abdominal pain, vomiting, tenderness, fever. The management of acute cholecystitis has come a long distance in the last few centuries. The first successful open cholecystectomy was performed by a German surgeon Carl Langenbuch in 1882. Cholecystectomy in acute stage of the disease was performed by an English surgeon Walton in 1923. The introduction of laparoscopic cholecystectomy by Erich Muhe on September 1985 revolutionized the management of patients with symptomatic gallstone disease. While laparoscopic cholecystectomy was established as superior to open cholecystectomy for patients with acute cholecystitis the timing of operative intervention remained controversial. Two broad strategies existearly cholecystectomy and elective or delayed cholecystectomy. Early cholecystectomy, while variably defined throughout the surgical literature, usually refers to cholecystectomy performed on the initial admission within 24 hours to 7 days from the onset of symptoms. Johansson et al (2003), Papi et al (2004), Strasberg et al (2008) and Gurusamy et al (2009) in their study consider early cholecystectomy within 7 days of onset of ABSTRACT