Abstract
The aim of our retrospective study was to assess the different outcomes of early (performed on the patient’s first admission for acute cholecystitis) and delayed cholecystectomy (done on a second admission) at King Abdulaziz University Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Methods: Data were collected retrospectively from our hospital electronic medical records data system. All adult patients presented to the emergency department with acute cholecystitis, between January 2010 to April 2018 were included in the study. The data were composed of 37 variables divided into four main parts: demographics, current presentation related variables, hospitalization and type of surgical procedure, progress while in hospital and patient’s outcome after discharge.
Results: Eighty-eight patients (70.5% females) were included in the study. Sixty-six patients received surgery in their first admission (mean age 42.56 years; median BMI 24.22 kg/m2). Twenty-two patients underwent surgery during their second admission (mean age 43.68 years; median BMI 26.89 kg/m2). The median duration of surgery was the same for both admission groups (120 min). Time from admission to surgery was longer in the first admission group, 48 h, compared to 36 h in the second admission group. Length of hospital stay after surgery was very similar in both groups: median (range) in the first admission group was 2 (1 – 30) days, and in the second 1.5 (1 – 14) days.
Conclusion: We found that patients who are overweight are more likely to have their surgery during a second admission, likely indicating that surgeons shy away from operating on patients with higher body mass indexes.
Keywords: Acute cholecystitis; Cholecystectomy; overweight; BMI; early; delayed.