Cholecystitis in teenage girls

Cholecystectomy was carried out in 17 teenage girls for cholecystitis at Virginia Mason Hospital, Seattle, between 1971 and 1980. The incidence increased with increasing age. Gallbladder disease was associated with recent pregnancy or birth control pill use (71%), obesity (65%) and family history of gallbladder disease (47%). All but one patient had at least one of these risk factors. No patient had congenital anomalies, blood dyscrasias or other underlying illness. Patients most commonly had recurrent attacks of abdominal pain; seven had symptoms for more than six months. Although the clinical presentations were often mild, six patients had jaundice, three had chemical pancreatitis, one had hemorrhagic pancreatitis, one had pancreatic pseudocyst and abscess and one had a common duct stone. One patient had cholesterosis and 16 had cholelithiasis. All patients were cured by operation. During the same time period, only two boys, both aged 14 years, nonobese and with no family history of gallbladder disease, underwent cholecystectomy, both for acaculous cholecystitis.