title: Elective cholecystectomy in selected cirrhotic patients.
abstract: Of the 53 cirrhotic patients with cholelithiasis observed at our Institution from 1978 to 1991, 31 were operated on. Twenty-eight Child-Pugh class A, two class B and one class C patients underwent elective cholecystectomy with (5 cases) or without (26 cases) common bile duct exploration. Among the symptomatic patients, nine (18.7%) were refused for surgery because the risk was estimated to be too high. Symptoms ranged from mild-moderate abdominal pain to typical biliary colic. Acute biliary inflammatory complications as cholecystitis or cholangitis could be detected in the clinical history of 5 patients (16%). Although a common clinical feature, jaundice was directly related to gallbladder or common bile duct stones only in one half of the cases. A total of 18 postoperative non-lethal complications occurred in ten patients (32.2%), with haemorrhage from the gallbladder bed being the most frequent event. Bleeding was associated with increased prothrombin time more than 1.5 seconds above the control (p < 0.01) but severe haemorrhage occurred only when the platelet count was less than 100.000/ml (p < 0.05). Common bile duct explorations increased the risk of bleeding. Two of the 3 class B or C patients developed ascites (p < 0.05). It is concluded that elective cholecystectomy can be performed without mortality in selected and symptomatic patients with adequate hepatic functional reserve.
authors.affiliation: Institute of General and Geriatric Surgery, Università di Napoli Federico II, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Iannuzzi
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cozzolino
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Negro
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002763:Cholecystectomy; D002769:Cholelithiasis / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D042882:Gallstones / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008105:Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies