[The continuity between the polyclinic and the surgical hospital in rendering specialized medical care to patients with chronic calculous cholecystitis].

A thorough clinical analysis of pains in the right hypochondrium was carried out in 880 patients. There were 80 men (the mean age 45 years) and 800 women (the mean age 40 years). Three groups of the symptom complexes were distinguished, pointing to: (a) dyskinesia of the gallbladder by the hypotonic type; (b) dyskinesia of the gallbladder by the hypertonic type; (c) chronic cholecystitis. Ultrasonography of the abdominal organs in 55 persons, primarily in the third group patients revealed calculous cholecystitis which accounted for 6. 25% of the total number of the examinees. All the patients suffering from chronic calculous cholecystitis received cholecystectomy on an elective basis. It should be mentioned that preoperative examination and treatment of concomitant diseases were done on an outpatient basis, which permitted the patients' stay at the hospital to be reduced more than two-fold (to 15 days). The data obtained allowed a conclusion about the necessity of a wider use of ultrasonography of the gallbladder as a screening method to examine outpatients with pains in the right hypochondrium and of carrying out an all-round examination and treatment of concomitant diseases in patients suffering from chronic calculous cholecystitis at the prehospital stage.