Feasibility of surgeon-performed percutaneous transhepatic gallbladder drainages in patients with acute cholecystitis

This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of surgeon-performed percutaneous transhepatic gallbladder drainage (PTGBD).

Patients treated with PTGBD for acute cholecystitis (AC), performed by surgeons at Chosun University Hospital for 12 months between March 2017 and February 2018, were enrolled retrospectively, into the S-PTGBD group (n = 134). Patients with PTGBD performed by interventional radiologists for 12 months, 6 months before March 2017, and after February 2018, were included in the X-PTGBD group (n = 107). In addition to the basic characteristics of the patients, severity of AC, comorbidities, intervals from hospital admission to the PTGBDs, procedural times, technical success rates, intention-to-treat rates, and complication rates were evaluated and compared.

Except for the patient's age (older in S-PTGBD), there were no differences in the patient's basic profiles, including the severity of the AC and comorbidities. Although the procedural times were significantly shorter in the X-PTGBD group (18.13 minutes vs. 11.39 minutes), effectiveness indicators such as the technical success rates and intention-to-treat rates and safety, such as the major complication rates in the S-PTGBD group, were comparable with those in the X-PTGBD group. The intervals between hospital admissions and PTGBDs were shorter in the S-PTGBD group, although this difference disappeared in the high-risk group. Effectiveness and safety in the high-risk group were also comparable between the groups.

The PTGBDs performed by surgeons are as effective and safe as those performed by interventional radiologists with faster implementation of PTGBD.