title: Gastrointestinal quality of life in patients with symptomatic or asymptomatic cholelithiasis before and after laparoscopic cholecystectomy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is an ongoing need, from both the medical and the economic perspective, for a more accurate definition of the influence of symptomatic or asymptomatic gallstone disease on gastrointestinal symptomatology, as well as on the health of the individual in general.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using the Gastrointestinal Quality of Life Index (GIQLI), 37 symptomatic and 30 asymptomatic gallstone patients were evaluated at admission to the hospital and again 4 months after undergoing an uneventful laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Postoperatively, significant increases in the total GIQLI score were noted in both the symptomatic group (113.42 +/- 21.9 vs 80.32 +/- 19.1 preoperatively; p < 0.05) and the asymptomatic group (96.37 +/- 14.26 vs 113.30 +/- 15.22; p < 0.05). For the subgroups of items, the core symptoms and the physical, psychological, and disease-specific items improved significantly in both groups in the postoperative period (p < 0.05 for all comparisons), but only the symptomatic group achieved a significant improvement in the subgroup of social items (p < 0.05). Negative correlations were found in both the symptomatic and asymptomatic groups between the preoperative GIQLI scores and the improvement seen after LC (r = -0.70 and r = -0.49, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Gallstone disease has a profoundly negative impact on quality of life, especially in symptomatic patients with a history of biliary colic attacks and/or the complications of the disease. Although the condition is not equally distressing for the asymptomatic group of patients without such a history, uncomplicated LC improves the quality of life significantly in both groups. Gallstone patients with lower GIQLI scores are more likely to benefit from LC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Gazi University Medical School, 67 Sok. 16/7 Emek, 06510 Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: B B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Mentes
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akin
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Irkörücü
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tatlicioğlu
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ferahköşe
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yildinm
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Maral
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017081:Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic; D002769:Cholelithiasis / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D016896:Treatment Outcome