Management of Symptomatic Gallstone Disease during COVID-19 Lockdown in a High-Resource Setting: Is There a Need for Treatment Alterations?

Introduction: Cholecystectomy (CCE) is the treatment of choice of symptomatic gallstones. Due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, operating room (OR) capacities have been reduced. The goal of this study was to evaluate the duration of symptoms of patients presenting with gallstone disease during a lockdown, the surgical management, and the severity grade of their disease.

Materials and methods: A cohort study of 353 CCEs performed at a university hospital over two 10-week periods during 2 pandemic lockdowns in Germany compared to corresponding periods in 2018 and 2019.

Results: During the lockdowns, 101 CCEs were performed compared to 252 in the prior years. The number of elective CCEs was reduced to save OR capacities (p < 0.001), and the most common indication for CCE was acute cholecystitis. The median time to CCE after symptom onset was 3 days in both groups for acute cholecystitis. The severity of cholecystitis was comparable (p = 0.760). The time to CCE after choledocholithiasis was shorter during the lockdowns (median of 4 days vs. 9 days; p = 0.006).

Conclusions: The incidence and severity of acute cholecystitis during the lockdowns were comparable to the prior years. Acute care surgery was provided at the expense of elective procedures, and there was no need for treatment alterations.