Acute cholecystitis: early versus delayed surgery.

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is widely established as the standard operation in acute cholecystectomy. Valid data from several prospective studies, including a recent large randomized multicenter trial, are available, demonstrating that early cholecystectomy is associated with less morbidity, a shorter length of hospital stay, and lower total hospital costs compared with delayed cholecystectomy after a conservative treatment period with antibiotics. Early cholecystectomy within 24 hours of hospital admission is the therapy of choice in patients fit for surgery and should be implemented as the standard treatment algorithm for this condition.