Abstract
The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the influence on the management of patients with acute cholecystitis by the Japanese guidelines. One hundred and sixteen records of patients admitted due to acute calculus cholecystitis and had undergone laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) were collected between January 2003 and September 2009. After the issue of the guidelines, the strategies for the management of acute cholecystitis were changed from elective LC to early LC in our institution. The mean length of hospital stay before LC became shorter (16.8 days in 2003~2004 VS 5.0 days in 2008~2009). Of the 116 patients, 23 (19.8%) underwent early LC and 96 (80.1%) underwent delayed LC. There was no significant difference in the conversion rates (early, 0% VS delayed, 3.2%), or postoperative complications (early, 4.3% VS delayed, 5.3%). However, the early group had a shorter hospital stay. Despite these advantages, early LC is not the most common treatment for acute cholecystitis in clinical practice.
