The use of laser lithotripsy status post cholecystostomy tube placement without interval cholecystectomy for calculous cholecystitis in a patient unfit for general anesthesia.

Acute cholecystitis in patients unfit for general anesthesia often initially requires cholecystectomy tube placement without cholecystectomy. The best way to definitively manage those patients with irreversible medical conditions, leaving them unable to undergo cholecystectomy, has yet to be defined. Laser lithotripsy is currently used in the management of stones of the genitourinary system. Extracorporeal shock wave cholelithotripsy has been extensively evaluated in Munich, Germany and since then, has been abandoned as an alternative treatment of cholelithiasis. This report discusses a novel approach using established cholecystocutaneous fistula tracts and laser lithotripsy to definitively treat this group of patients.