From Elective to Emergent Cholecystectomy: A Single-Center Experience.

BACKGROUND

Symptomatic cholelithiasis is a common disease in which the majority of patients are managed electively. There is an unknown proportion of patients who require emergency surgery for acute cholecystitis in this elective waiting period. Our study aimed to evaluate risk factors for requiring an emergency cholecystectomy during this waiting period.

METHODS

This single-center retrospective observational study queried medical records for scheduled elective cholecystectomies from 2017 to 2022. We then evaluated these patients to determine who required emergency intervention via acute cholecystectomy. Patient demographics were analyzed. Patient cohort subgroups were created for patients who waited longer than 60 days and less than 60 days.

RESULTS

1086 patients from 2017 to 2022 were scheduled for an elective cholecystectomy. Of those, 48 required emergency cholecystectomy. Average wait times of those who required emergent cholecystectomy were found to be significantly higher at 60.3 d, compared to 47.3 d for the elective group (P = .03*). Subgroup analysis of patients with >60 d average wait time re-demonstrated significance with 92.1 d and 115.7 d (P = .004) for the elective and emergency subgroups, respectively. >60 d wait time showed increased odds ratio of 1.805 (P = .05) for requiring an emergency cholecystectomy. Logistic regression analysis identified >60 d waiting period (P = .01) and obesity (P = .0001) as predictors of needing emergency surgery.

DISCUSSION: Wait time >60 d is associated with an increased risk of emergent cholecystectomy. Obesity was identified as a key risk factor which should be considered for stratifying patients for more urgent surgical intervention.