Gallstone ileus as a complication of acute cholecystitis. Laparoscopic diagnosis and treatment

Gallstone ileus accounts for 1-4% of all cases of intestinal obstruction, with its incidence rising with age of patients. There is often a long delay between onset of symptoms (usually abdominal pain, vomiting, and bowel distension) and proper treatment, with a simple enterolithotomy as the one of choice. We report a case of an atypical gallstone ileus presented as a complication of acute cholecystitis, treated with a laparoscopic guided enterolithotomy. A 67-year-old woman on the 5th p.o. day after a laparoscopic procedure for an empyematous cholecystitis (no sign of fistula or duodenal perforation and a "negative" intraoperative cholangiography) presented continuous vomiting as the only symptoms of a subileus (radiographic diagnostic images negative for intestinal obstruction or intraluminal gallstone or duodenal fistula). A laparoscopic diagnostic approach revealed a gallstone in the distal jejunum. Through a 5 cm midline incision the intestine, including the gallstone, was brought out extracorporally and the stone was removed by a simple enterolithotomy. The postoperative course was uneventful and the patient had no complaint at a 1-year follow-up. We consider the laparoscopic approach, in patients with "abdominal emergencies," feasible and safe in experienced hands. It provides diagnostic accuracy as well as therapeutic capabilities, as in the case of gallstone ileus we have reported.