Chronic Acalculous Cholecystitis: Changes in Patient Demographics and Evaluation Since the Advent of Laparoscopy

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE To analyze patients with chronic acalculous cholecystitis over ten years, during which laparotomy was replaced by laparoscopy as the dominant operation for cholecystectomy in regard to patient demographics, diagnostic evaluations, follow-up symptoms, and additional operations. METHODS Of 7181 cholecystectomies from June 1985 to June 1995, 301 patients had chronic acalculous cholecystitis. All subsequent hospital admissions and emergency room visits were reviewed through May 1997. Office records were available for review in 158 cases. Two eras were defined, the open era from June 1985 through May 1990, and the laparoscopic era from June 1990 through June 1995. RESULTS Twice as many patients with chronic acalculous disease underwent cholecystectomy after the advent of laparoscopy. Patients with chronic acalculous disease were significantly younger than patients with cholelithiasis in both open and laparoscopic cases. The percentage of white women increased from 64.7% in the open to 75.7% in the laparoscopic era (p<0.05). The numbers of preoperative diagnostic tests performed decreased from 4.7+/-2.4 in the open to 3.2+/-1.8 in the laparoscopic era (p<0.05). Twenty-two percent of patients had continued symptoms postoperatively, and 8 patients (2.7%) required other abdominal operations within one year of cholecystectomy. CONCLUSION Chronic acalculous cholecystitis is a disease of white females, doubling in frequency over the decade of review. Of these, 78% of patients had resolution of their symptoms on long-term follow-up.