BackgroundLaparoscopic cholecystectomy has become the treatment of choice for gallstone disease. Advantages of the laparoscopic approach include lower morbidity and mortality rates, reduced length of hospital stay, and earlier return to work. In acute cholecystitis, severe inflammation makes laparoscopic dissection technically more demanding, with a higher risk of related complications that require conversion to open cholecystectomy.MethodsWe reviewed the records of 5,596 patients who underwent cholecystectomy between 1993 and 2011 in a single institution. A laparoscopic approach was undertaken in 4,105 patients (73.4 %). The ultrasound signs of acute cholecystitis were found in 542 patients (13.2 %) who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy. We analyzed the ultrasound presentations of acute cholecystitis in patients who required conversion to open cholecystectomy and compared them with the ultrasound signs of acute cholecystitis in patients who had a completed laparoscopic cholecystectomy.ResultsA conversion to open cholecystectomy in patients with acute cholecystitis was necessary in 24 % (n = 130) of the patients compared to 3.4 % of the patients with uncomplicated gallstone disease. The most frequent ultrasound findings in patients requiring conversion were a pericholecystic exudate in 42 %, a difficult identification of anatomical structures due to local severe inflammation in 34 %, and gallbladder wall thickening of >5 mm in 31 %. Additionally, when the duration of symptoms exceeded 3 days, more than half of the patients required conversion to open cholecystectomy and the conversion rate was fivefold higher than for those with a shorter duration of acute cholecystitis.ConclusionsIn patients with severe acute cholecystitis found on ultrasound, combined with gallbladder wall thickening to >5 mm, pericholecystic exudates or abscess adjacent to the gallbladder, difficulty identifying anatomical structures within Calot’s triangle, specifically when the duration of symptoms exceeds 3 days, cholecystectomy should be done as an open approach because of the high risk of conversion.

AimThe goal of the paper was to evaluate the procedure of percutaneous drainage of symptomatic hepatic cysts under the transabdominal ultrasound control combined with obliteration.Material and methodWithin the period from 2005 to 2015, 70 patients diagnosed with a simple hepatic cyst of symptomatic nature were subject to hospitalization and treated at the 2nd General, Gastroenterological and Cancer Surgery of the Alimentary System Center and Clinics of the Medical University of Lublin. All the patients subject to evaluation were qualified to percutaneous drainage under an ultrasound control. The drainage utilized typical sets of drains with the diameter of at least 9 F, most often of pigtail type. The fluid aspirated form the cyst was dispatched for complex laboratory testing. Further, a 10% sodium chloride solution was administered to the cyst through the drain, in the volume depending on the previous size of the cyst and the patient's reaction.ResultsPatients reported for a re-visit within the period from 3 to 9 months following the procedure. Complete obliteration of the cyst was confirmed only in 8 patients (11%). Cyst recurrence was reported in cases when during the ultrasound evaluation, the diameter of the cyst following aspiration and obliteration enlarged to over 75% of the initial dimension. In this group, in 10 out of 12 examined (83%) there was a relapse of the previously observed ailments. Among patients, who has a cyst imaged within the period of observation, which had the diameter from 50% to 75% of the previous size, only in 6 cases (37.5%) the initial symptoms relapsed.ConclusionsThe utilization of a drainage and obliteration enables one to achieve the acceptable result of the therapy as well as significant decrease in the number of previously reported ailments and symptoms described.

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Surgical removal of the gallbladder is indicated in nearly all cases of complicated acute cholecystitis. In the 1990s, laparoscopic cholecystectomy became the method of choice in the treatment of cholecystolithiasis. Due to a large inflammatory reaction in the course of acute inflammation, a laparoscopic procedure is conducted in technically difficult conditions and entails the risk of complications.The aim of this paperThe aim of this paper was: 1) to analyze ultrasound images in acute cholecystitis; 2) to specify the most common causes of conversion from the laparoscopic method to open laparotomy; 3) to determine the degree to which the necessity for such a conversion may be predicted with the help of ultrasound examinations.Material and methodsIn 1993–2011, in the Second Department and Clinic of General, Gastroenterological and Oncological Surgery of the Medical University in Lublin, 5,596 cholecystectomies were performed including 4,105 laparoscopic procedures that constituted 73.4% of all cholecystectomies. Five hundred and forty-two patients (13.2%) were qualified for laparoscopic procedure despite manifesting typical symptoms of acute cholecystitis in ultrasound examination, which comprise: thickening of the gallbladder wall of > 3 mm, inflammatory infiltration in the Calot's triangle region, gallbladder filled with stagnated or purulent contents and mural or intramural effusion.ResultsIn the group of operated patients, the conversion was necessary in 130 patients, i.e. in 24% of cases in comparison with 3.8% of patients with uncomplicated cholecystolithiasis (without the signs of inflammation). The conversion most frequently occurred when the assessment of the anatomical structures of the Calot's triangle was rendered more difficult due to local inflammatory process, mural effusion and thickening of the gallbladder wall of >5 mm. The remaining changes occurred more rarely.ConclusionsBased on imaging scans, the most common causes of conversion included inflammatory infiltration in the Calot's triangle region, mural effusion and wall thickening to > 5 mm. The classical cholecystectomy in acute cholecystitis should be performed in patients with three major local complications detected on ultrasound examination and in those, who manifest acute clinical symptoms.

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