Abstract
A postal questionnaire was sent to the Councilors of the Japanese Society of Abdominal Emergency Medicine in order to ascertain their current management of patients with acute cholecystitis (AC). A policy of early cholecystectomy for AC was adopted in 41.7% of the responding surgeons before establishment of the Guidelines, but this increased to 57.3% after establishment of the Guidelines. The adaptation rate of laparoscopic cholecystectomy amongst surgeons was 79.1% before establishment of the Guidelines, which increased to 87.3% after their establishment. Therefore, it would appear that laparoscopic cholecystectomy was the first surgical procedure of choice for AC. The utilization rate of the Guidelines in the treatment of AC was 84.7%. This high value of the clinical use of the Guidelines indicated that the Guidelines played an important role in the standardization of treatment for AC.
