Alternative methods for management of the complicated gallbladder

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is the procedure of choice for symptomatic cholelithiasis. However, in the presence of acute cholecystitis, 10% to 15% of patients face conversion to laparotomy. Alternatives to conventional therapy may therefore help to improve the clinical outcome of patients with complicated gallbladder disease. In selecting patients for alternative therapies, preoperative and intraoperative factors must be considered. Preoperative factors include the severity of biliary disease and preexisting medical risk factors; whereas intraoperative factors include conditions at the time of surgery that make dissection difficult or unsafe. Alternative therapies provide the least invasive management to safely temporize or definitively treat the acute condition. These alternatives include percutaneous cholecystostomy alone or followed by laparoscopic cholecystectomy, laparoscopic cholecystostomy followed by laparoscopic cholecystectomy, laparoscopic subtotal cholecystectomy, endoscopic retrograde cannulation of the gallbladder, and extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy. By appropriate selection of the initial therapeutic approach, the surgeon may ultimately improve the clinical outcome in these complicated patients.