[Surgical therapy of acute cholecystitis--advantages of early operation]

229 patients with an acute cholecystitis were operated on at the Surgical University Hospital of Ulm between 3/1982 and 6/1990. 42.3% of the patients were older than 70 years, the mean age being 64.3 years. 51.5% suffered from a complicated form of the disease. Intercurrent diseases were preoperatively found in 76%. Intraoperative complications of a technical nature occurred in 3.1%. The overall postoperative morbidity rate was 54%, with 9.4% of local problems, and showed a clear dependency on age and the number of preexisting risk factors. 31% had to undergo reoperation. The overall mortality rate was 2.6%, with a 0% mortality for patients under 65 years. The number of preexisting risk factors clearly correlated the period of hospitalisation, which was 16.1 days on average. In symptomatic gallstone diseases an early elective cholecystectomy should be strongly considered, especially in aged and multimorbid patients.