Large bowel cancer after cholecystectomy

In a large, population-based case control study of colorectal cancer, 65 of 715 patients and 57 of 727 control subjects had a previous cholecystectomy (chi-square = 0.6, relative risk 1.18, 95 percent confidence interval 0.81 to 1.70, p = 0.45). There was no statistically significant association between previous cholecystectomy and the risk of colorectal cancer, colon cancer, right colon cancer, any of the subsites of colon cancer, rectal cancer, age, or sex. Although there is some evidence from other studies of an association between previous cholecystectomy and right colon cancer in women, this may have resulted from confounding symptoms. Based on the present evidence, we believe that previous cholecystectomy is unlikely to be a risk factor for colorectal cancer.