Cholecystostomy: Its Place in the Treatment of Acute Cholecystitis.

Conservative management of acute cholecystitis has frequently been too prolonged, particularly in the aged. Early cholecystostomy followed by interval cholecystectomy improved the results of treatment as demonstrated in a series of 41 patients at Shaughnessy Veterans Hospital, Vancouver. The following advantages were noted. Advanced disease in the elderly toxic patient was successfully treated by a minor and short surgical procedure, cholecystostomy. Per-cholecystostomy cholangiography revealed dilatation and/or stones in the common bile duct. Interval cholecystectomy was facilitated by the absence of general toxicity, by the presence of a subsiding inflammatory process, and by the availability preoperatively of knowledge of the status of the common bile duct.