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Published on: November 25, 2025
Feasibility and Safety of Percutaneous Gallbladder Cryoablation with and Without Gallstone Extraction for Calculous
Jacob Abraham1, Michelle Mai1, Abdifatah Omar1
1The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, 02903, USA.
Purpose:
To assess the feasibility and safety of percutaneous gallbladder cryoablation combined with gallstone extraction for calculous cholecystitis and cryoablation alone for acalculous cholecystitis.
Materials And Methods:
A dual-tertiary center retrospective case series included 12 patients (median age, 66.0 years; three females and nine males) with benign gallbladder disease who underwent percutaneous gallbladder cryoablation between April 2023 and May 2025. Ten patients underwent percutaneous cholangioscopy-guided gallstone extraction prior to cryoablation, while two patients without gallstones received cryoablation alone. Descriptive statistics were collected for patient demographics, clinical presentation, procedural details, technical success, adverse events, symptom recurrence and resolution rates, and imaging findings.
Results:
The median follow-up was 540.5 days. Technical success was achieved in 91.7% (11/12), with one procedure aborted due to the inability to safely hydrodissect the colon from the gallbladder. All 11 patients who underwent successful cryoablation reported complete symptom resolution at 1-month and during subsequent follow-up. Follow-up imaging demonstrated progressive involution of the devitalized, nonenhancing gallbladder. No immediate procedure-related complications occurred, and all patients were discharged within 24 h. One patient developed a minor procedure-related adverse event on post-procedure day 4 (self-limited scrotal edema), and another experienced transient biliary obstruction 3 months later, presumably related to the choledochocele.
Conclusions:
Gallbladder cryoablation, performed alone for acalculous cholecystitis or in combination with gallstone extraction for calculous cholecystitis, is technically feasible, safe, and associated with effective symptom relief.
