Surgical removal of the gallbladder is done routinely. Stones in the common bile duct usually come from the gallbladder and can be harmful. The usual treatment for gallstones that are in the common bile duct is endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and sphincterotomy. ERCP is an endoscopic procedure to remove stones from the common bile duct. More stones may enter the common bile duct from the gallbladder but it is not clear if the gallbladder should be removed preventively (prophylactic cholecystectomy) or if a wait-and-see policy (cholecystectomy deferral) would be better. We included 5 randomised trials with 662 participants out of 93 publications identified through the literature searches. The number of deaths was 47 in the wait-and-see group (334 patients) compared with 26 in the prophylactic cholecystectomy group (328 patients). This review of randomised clinical trials suggests that early removal of the gallbladder decreases the risk of death or of complications from gallstones. The number of patients (662) reviewed in this report prevents some of the subgroup analyses from being conclusive. Further clinical trials, particularly of high-risk patients, would solve this problem.
阅读完整摘要
Cholecystectomy is not required in up to 64% of patients who adopt a wait-and-see policy after endoscopic clearance of common bile duct stones. Although reports of retrospective cohort series have shown a higher mortality among patients who defer cholecystectomy, it is not known if this is due to the patients' premorbid health status or due to the deferral of cholecystectomy. Randomised clinical trials of prophylactic cholecystectomy versus wait-and-see have not had sufficient power to demonstrate differences in survival.
研究目的
To evaluate the beneficial and harmful effects of cholecystectomy deferral (wait-and-see) versus elective (prophylactic) cholecystectomy in patients who have had an endoscopic biliary sphincterotomy.
检索策略
We searched The Cochrane Hepato-Biliary Group Controlled Trials Register, the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (CENTRAL) in The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE (1966 to 2007), EMBASE (1980 to 2007), and Science Citation Index Expanded without language restrictions until April 2007.
纳入排除标准
Randomised clinical trials comparing patients whose gallbladder was left in-situ after endoscopic sphincterotomy (wait-and-see group) versus patients who had cholecystectomy with either endoscopic sphincterotomy or common bile duct exploration (prophylactic cholecystectomy group), irrespective of blinding, language, or publication status.
资料收集与分析
We assessed the impact of a wait-and-see policy on mortality. Secondary outcomes assessed were the incidence of biliary pain, cholangitis, pancreatitis, need for cholangiography, need for cholecystectomy, and the rate of difficult cholecystectomy. We pooled data using relative risk with fixed-effect and random-effects models.
主要结果
We included 5 randomised trials with 662 participants out of 93 publications identified through the literature searches. The number of deaths was 47 in the wait-and-see group (334 patients) compared to 26 in the prophylactic cholecystectomy group (328 patients) for a 78% increased risk of mortality (RR 1.78, 95% CI 1.15 to 2.75, P = 0.010). The survival benefit of prophylactic cholecystectomy was independent of trial design, inclusion of high risk patients or inclusion of any one of the five trials. Patients in the wait-and-see group had higher rates of recurrent biliary pain (RR 14.56, 95% CI 4.95 to 42.78, P < 00001), jaundice or cholangitis (RR 2.53, 95% CI 1.09 to 5.87, P = 0.03), and of repeat ERCP or other forms of cholangiography (RR 2.36, 95% CI 1.29 to 4.32, P = 0.005). Cholecystectomy was eventually performed in 35% (115 patients) of the wait-and-see group.
作者结论
Prophylactic cholecystectomy should be offered to patients whose gallbladders remain in-situ after endoscopic sphincterotomy and common bile duct clearance.
