[Surgery of acute cholecystitis in patients 80 years of age or older]

In 17 Belgian surgical centers, 324 operations have been performed for acute cholecystitis in patients 80 years of age or older. In this group of patients: 1. The incidence of acute cholecystitis is hardly higher in women than in men. 2. The patients were operated within 24 hours of admission in 38% of cases. The main bile duct was surgically explored in 1/3 of patients. Cholecystostomy or simple drainage were used in 1/10 of cases only. 3. Operative mortality was 19%. It was higher for patients operated as emergencies than for delayed operations and higher also when the cholecystectomy was associated with an exploration of the bile duct. The ideal treatment for such patients should thus be a cholecystectomy with an endoscopic sphincterotomy.