Ultrasound-guided percutaneous cholecystostomy as bridging or definitive treatment in patients with acute cholecystitis grade II or III.

BACKGROUND

We aimed to investigate the extent to which ultrasound (US)-guided percutaneous cholecystostomy (PC) is used as a bridging or definitive therapy for grade II and III acute cholecystitis and whether this treatment causes significant changes in C-reactive protein (CRP) and direct bilirubin (DB) levels in the first 72 h and the first three weeks.

METHODS

We included 145 consecutive patients who underwent PC over 17 years. No patient had cirrhosis. PC was performed in the interventional radiology department under US guidance.

RESULTS

US-guided PC was the definitive treatment for more than half of the patients (51.7%) and decreased DB levels significantly more than CRP levels.

CONCLUSION

No statistically significant correlation between those whose CRP and DB levels normalized within three weeks and those who did not and required a second invasive procedure. Nevertheless, the bridging treatment group was significantly older than the definitive treatment group.