Incidental gallstones.
Publication/Presentation Date
1-1-2009
Abstract
Gallstones develop in approximately 10% to 15% of the US population and represent one of the most common and most costly of all digestive diseases. Studies investigating gallstones' natural history have shown that gallstone-related complications arise at a rate of approximately 1% per year in asymptomatic patients and 2% per year in patients who already have symptoms. Patients can have any of multiple presentations with gallstone-related problems along a continuum of health threats from intermittent biliary colic to septic shock from ascending infections. In most clinical situations in which the patient's gallstone symptoms are either recurrent or have caused complications, cholecystectomy remains the procedure of choice. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy, first performed in the mid-1980s, has quickly become the gold standard in the US. For clinicians who perform abdominal procedures, the literature is consistent in advocating cholecystectomy for gallstones found incidentally during other abdominal procedures.
Volume
13
Issue
2
First Page
50
Last Page
54
ISSN
1552-5775
Published In/Presented At
Wang, J. K., Foster, S. M., & Wolff, B. G. (2009). Incidental gallstones. The Permanente journal, 13(2), 50–54. https://doi.org/10.7812/TPP/08-050
Disciplines
Medicine and Health Sciences
PubMedID
21373230
Department(s)
Department of Surgery
Document Type
Article