Natural History of Cholelithiasis in Patients with Alcoholic Cirrhosis (Cholelithiasis in Cirrhotic Patients)
- 1 March 1987
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) in Annals of Surgery
- Vol. 205 (3), 226-229
- https://doi.org/10.1097/00000658-198703000-00002
Abstract
To assess the natural history of cholelithiasis in patients with cirrhosis, 32 charts coded for both diseases were retrospectively reviewed. Cholecystectomy was performed in 22 patients. Only two patients met criteria for acute cholecystitis and two patients had suspected choledocholithiasis. Despite the high incidence of preoperative jaundice (32%), no common duct stones were documented. There was no operative mortality. The complication rate was 45%. In 10 patients not operated upon, two patients died of liver failure and the remaining eight patients are alive 8 months to 13 years after diagnosis (mean: 46 months) with no active biliary disease. It is concluded that: (1) jaundice in this subpopulation most often reflects hepatocellular injury and rarely biliary tract obstruction, (2) there appears to be a much lower incidence of acute cholecystitis and choledocholithiasis in cirrhotic patients with cholelithiasis than in the normal population, and (3) patients with cirrhosis and asymptomatic cholelithiasis cn be safely managed without operation.This publication has 16 references indexed in Scilit:
- Biliary tract surgery and cirrhosis: a critical combination.1981
- PIGMENT GALLSTONES1977
- Increased incidence of cholelithiasis in Laënnec's cirrhosis. A postmortem evaluation of pathogenesis.1972
- Bile acid metabolism in patients with cirrhosis. I. Kinetic aspects of cholic acid metabolism.1971
- Postmortem study of the frequency of gallstones in patients with cirrhosis of the liverGut, 1969
- Biliary Tract OperationsArchives of Surgery, 1969
- Gallbladder disease and cholecystectomy: experience with 1500 patients managed in a community hospital.1969
- One Thousand Consecutive CholecystectomiesArchives of Surgery, 1968
- HEMOLYTIC ANEMIA IN LIVER DISEASEMedicine, 1966
- Anemia of Hepatic Disease Studied with RadiochromiumGastroenterology, 1960