title: [Natural course of asymptomatic gallstone disease].
abstract: Of 1850 patients with cholelithiasis diagnosed in the past 17 years, 1116 female and 734 male, 598 patients (32.3%) presented with one or more of three major symptoms, i.e., abdominal pain, fever and jaundice, whereas the remainder (67.7%) had none of these symptoms. The proportion of the asymptomatic patients was similar in all age groups, being around 70%. Only 20 per cent of 680 asymptomatic patients, followed for 10 to 17 years (median 13.3 years), developed biliary symptoms. Older patients over 70 years of age had a higher rate of change to the symptomatic group, as compared with younger patients under 70, 29.5% vs. 19.3%, respectively. During this period, carcinoma of the gallbladder developed in one of the asymptomatic patients (0.1%). Oral dissolution therapy was successful in only 4.2 per cent of attempted cases and associated with a recurrence rate of as high as 20%. We conclude that asymptomatic gallstone patients should only be followed up by ultrasound twice a year without any treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Wada Hospital.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wada
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wada
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Imamura
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002769:Cholelithiasis / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis