Abstract

Objectives: Percutaneous cholecystostomy (PC) is an important procedure for the treatment of acute calculous cholecystitis (ACC). The main purpose of this research study was to retrospectively analyze all data of patients who underwent PC placement via the transperitoneal (TP) or transhepatic (TH) approach in patients with ACC.

Methods: The datasets of the 59 patients included in the research study included cases who underwent PC in the interventional radiology clinic after ACC diagnosis between January 1, 2022 and September 1, 2024. The data included all six-month follow-up results recorded following the placement of permanent tube catheters with TP or TH percutaneous cholecystostomy procedural techniques after the clinical and radiological imaging diagnoses of ACC.

Results: A total of 59 patients diagnosed with ACC underwent PC placement in 41 cases with TP and 18 cases with TH approach; In patients using the TH procedural technique, there was a slight increase in the bleeding rate (1.8% vs. 0.6%, p=0.01), but there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of other post-procedural complications (tube dislocation, bile leakage and bile leakage hemorrhage, tube occlusion, peritonitis, organ perforation, etc.).

Conclusion: PC has become an important procedure for the treatment of acute cholecystitis. PC is mostly performed in patients who cannot undergo emergency laparoscopic cholecystectomy, and PC-related complications are much rarer compared with other invasive biliary procedures. The following resolution of the clinical presentation of ACC, cholecystectomy should be performed in patients who can tolerate anesthesia and surgical risks to prevent biliary event recurrence. PC is an effective and reliable intervention to decompress the gallbladder and prevent widespread sepsis.