Surgical treatment of gallstones: changes in a defined population during a 20-year period

To study developments in routine gallstone surgery in a defined population over a 20-year period with regard to incidence of operations, implementation of new methods, postoperative complications, and postoperative duration of hospital stay.

Retrospective study of medical records.

County hospital, Sweden.

All patients who were residents of Jönköping during one of the three-year periods 1976-1978, 1986-1988, or 1996-1998 and had their first surgical treatment, either cholecystectomy/choledochotomy or therapeutic endoscopy for gallstone disease.

The overall annual incidence of operations for gallstones decreased from 2.01 to 1.13/1000 inhabitants between the first and second period (p < 0.001). This is explained by a significant reduction in the number of elective operations while the number of urgent operations increased between the first and second periods from 0.39 to 0.53/1000 (p < 0.05) and continued to increase and reached 0.75/1000 during the third period (p < 0.001). New methods were introduced for the treatment of gallstones that gradually made this type of operation more varied and complex in routine practice. The postoperative hospital stay decreased from 7.0 days during the 1970s to 3.9 days during the 1990s. Postoperative morbidity was unchanged.

The decreasing rate of gallstone surgery noted between the 1970s and 1980s did not continue through the 1990s. Urgent surgery for gallstone disease has gradually become more common and now predominates over elective surgery in routine practice. The introduction of less traumatic surgical techniques contributed to the significant decrease in hospital stay after gallstone surgery. However, morbidity has not decreased and the diversification of surgical techniques used for treatment of gallstones requires continuous evaluation in routine practice.