[Course and results of the Karlsbad cure after cholecystectomy]

The course and the result of a cure in Karlovy Vary was pursued in 148 cholecystectomized patients. With the exception of 5 patients who were transferred to the surgeon after a bilious attack and 1 patient with malignoma of the biliary ducts 142 patients spoke of a subjective improvement at the end of the cure. The cure passed systematically in 50 patients with slight biliary complaints. In more considerable complaints, however, in 23 of 98 patients a bilious attack occurred during the cure, which made necessary the surgical intervention in 5 patients. Relapsing fever episodes could be clinically governed in 41 patients. Antibiotics remained without any effect in 41 patients. The values of the alkaline serum phosphatase and gamma-glutamyl-transpeptidase normalised only in 8 of this group, not, however, in 45 patients. The results altogether refer to the fat that the indications to a cure in Karlovy Vary must be made more carefully. After a cholecystectomy they should be recommended only then, when the biliary ducts eventually were cleant up. In these cases the only cholangiitis is no contraindication. The treatment may be supplemented by antibiotics.