What postoperative management to offer after gallbladder drainage for acute calculous cholecystitis?

To evaluate our management practices after placement of a gallbladder drain for acute calculous cholecystitis and investigate predictive factors of secondary cholecystectomy.

Single-center, retrospective study including all patients who underwent percutaneous gallbladder drainage for acute calculous cholecystitis between 01/01/2014 and 12/04/2022.

A total of 152 patients were included, most of whom had multiple comorbidities (66% with Charlson Comorbidity Index [CCI]≥5). Drain-related morbidity accounted for 47.4% of patients (including 27% with medical complications). The median duration of hospitalization after drainage was 10 days with 21% of patients requiring rehospitalization. A total of 41.4% of patients underwent secondary cholecystectomy with a 27% conversion rate to laparotomy. There was 34.9% post-operative complication rate including 6% repeat surgery with a mortality rate of 3.5%. Predictors of failure to perform secondary cholecystectomy were represented by age, CCI≥5, neurological history and use of blood thinners.

Patients requiring gallbladder drainage for acute calculous cholecystitis often have numerous comorbidities. Less than half will have access to a secondary cholecystectomy which will be risky. We have proposed an algorithm for gallbladder drain management, taking into account the possibility of performing a secondary cholecystectomy or not, which will need to be validated in future studies.