Controversies in biliary tract surgery.

There are many controversies regarding the surgical management of calculous gallbladder disease. Newer data in the surgical literature and competing medical treatments compound this confusion. In this guest lecture the author reviews current data and provides an update in seven controversial areas: the timing of operation in acute cholecystitis, the management of the diabetic patient with gallstones, the treatment of the patient with asymptomatic gallstones, the medical treatment of gallstones, the use and abuse of operative cholangiography, the management of the patient with gallstone pancreatitis and management of the patient with acalculous cholecystopathy.