Percutaneous cholecystostomy as a bridge therapy in the geriatric age group with acute cholecystitis

The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of percutaneous cholecystostomy (PC) in the geriatric patients with acute cholecystitis.

The records of geriatric patients with high surgical risk who underwent percutaneous cholecystostomy for acute cholecystitis were reviewed retrospectively.

The median age of 134 patients who underwent percutaneous cholecystostomy was 77 (65-98) years and 63.4% were women. The mean length of hospital stay was 5 (4-18) days, and the follow-up period until the procedure was 2 (1-6) days. Murphy's sign was positive in 79.1% of patients on physical examination, and the remaining patients (20.9%) had only tenderness on examination. As USG findings, 59.0% of the patients had a gall bladder wall thickness (> 4 mm) with pericholecystic fluid. Additional imaging method, abdominal CT, was performed in 29 patients (21.6%), MRCP was performed in three patients (2.2%), and ERCP was performed in one patient (0.7%). Bacterial growth was detected in 27.6% of the bile cultures performed. During the follow-up period, laparoscopic cholecystectomy was performed in 60.4% of the patients and open cholecystectomy was performed in 5.2% of the patients electively. 34.3% of the patients did not undergo any surgery. Bile leakage was detected in two patients (1.5%) as a procedure-related complication, and no mortality was observed.

Abdominal ultrasonography-guided PC is a safe and effective method in the management of acute cholecystitis in high-risk patients in the geriatric age group.