The Management of Acute Cholecystitis in Chronic Hemodialysis Patients: Percutaneous Cholecystostomy Versus Cholecystectomy

Treatment of acute cholecystitis in chronic hemodialysis (HD) patients still remains controversial. Because of underlying disease that can influence surgical results, less invasive alternative managements have been tried over the last decades. The goal of this study was to analyze the results of cholecystectomy versus percutaneous cholecystostomy for acute cholecystitis (AC) in chronic HD patients.

All patients with end-stage renal disease who were treated for AC were identified retrospectively from our medical records. Between July 2007 and September 2011, 47 patients were treated for AC while they were on chronic HD. The records of these patients were reviewed for documented AC and its treatment.

Of the 47 HD patients, 26 (55.3 %) underwent cholecystectomy (CC), while 21 (44. 7 %) had a percutaneous cholecystostomy (PC) for AC as an initial treatment. The mean length of follow-up was 20.4 ± 16 months in PC and 18 ± 15 months in CC patients. The success rate was higher in CC patients compared to PC patients (92. 3 versus 66.7 %, p = 0.0698). Eleven (52. 4 %) patients who had PC subsequently underwent CC; six open CC and five delayed laparoscopic CC were performed. Of the 26 patients who underwent CC, 18 were performed emergently due to the persistence of AC-related symptoms and gangrenous and perforated gallbladders. Eight were initially treated conservatively and then underwent elective cholecystectomy at an interval of 32 ± 24 (range = 14–59) days following initial treatment. In emergent CC, 10 (55.6 %) were completed laparoscopically, three were open, and five (33.3 %) had conversions. In elective CC patients, two were conversions, but the remainder (75 %) had laparoscopic CC. Readmission rates were higher in the PC group (33.3 versus 12.5 %, p = 0.1732). Although AC-related mortality was higher in PC patients, there was no statistically significant difference in the patient survival rate between the two groups (Kaplan–Meier analysis, Fig. 1, 19 versus 7.7 %; p = 0.4035), and the overall mortality rate was higher in the PC group (33.7 versus 15.7 %, p = 0.2737).

This study confirms that the safety and effectiveness of CC has a higher success rate and lower morbidity and mortality rate compared with percutaneous cholecystostomy for acute cholecystitis in chronic HD patients.