Timing of Cholecystectomy in Mild Acute Biliary Pancreatitis.

Abstract

Acute biliary pancreatitis (ABP) is one of the most common gastrointestinal events that requires acute admission to the hospital with considerable risks of mortality & morbidity. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy has become the gold standard for the treatment of ABP. Our aim was to determine the safety of cholecystectomy during the first admission by performing a review of the current literature. Waiting for 6 - 8 weeks to perform cholecystectomy may result with an increased incidence of recurrent ABP attacks, which may increase morbidity and the length of the hospital stay. On the contrary, cholecystectomy during the index admission for mild ABP appears to be a preferable and safe approach with better surgical outcomes providing a definitive treatment.