ArticleBMC surgery2022
Laparoscopic cholecystectomy during the COVID-19 pandemic in a tertiary care hospital in Germany: higher rates of acute and gangrenous cholecystitis in elderly patients.
Article in BMC surgery, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Interpreting Abdominal Surgical-Site Infection Trends Across the COVID-19 Shock: A Critical Narrative Review and the SSI Signal-Validity Framework.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Article
- COVID-19 infection is a significant risk factor for death in patients presenting with acute cholecystitis: a secondary analysis of the ChoCO-W cohort study.World journal of emergency surgery : WJES · 2025Review
- Enhancing the management of acute and gangrenous cholecystitis: a systematic review supported by the TriNetX database.Translational gastroenterology and hepatology · 2025Review
- Worse cholecystectomy outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic: were staff shortages or a change in patient case-mix the culprit?Surgical endoscopy · 2024Article
- Prospective study on planned biliary stent placement to treat small common bile duct stones.JGH open : an open access journal of gastroenterology and hepatology · 2024Article
- COVID-free surgical pathways for treating patients with acute calculous cholecystitis: a retrospective comparative study.Frontiers in surgery · 2024Article
- Multidisciplinary management of acute cholecystitis during the COVID-19 pandemic.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Management of acute appendicitis during COVID-19 pandemic. Single center data from a tertiary care hospital in Germany.Innovative surgical sciences · 2023Article
- [The COVID-19 pandemic had significant impact on duration of surgery and hospitalization time for patients after cholecystectomy].Chirurgie (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2023Article
- The ChoCO-W prospective observational global study: Does COVID-19 increase gangrenous cholecystitis?World journal of emergency surgery : WJES · 2022Observational
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic caused a global health crisis in 2020. This pandemic also had a negative impact on standard procedures in general surgery. Surgeons were challenged to find the best treatment plans for patients with acute cholecystitis. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the outcomes of laparoscopic cholecystectomies performed in a tertiary care hospital in Germany. PATIENTS AND
methodsWe examined perioperative outcomes of patients who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy during the pandemic from March 22, 2020 (first national lockdown in Germany) to December 31, 2020. We then compared these to perioperative outcomes from the same time frame of the previous year.
resultsA total of 182 patients who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy during the above-mentioned periods were enrolled. The pandemic group consisted of 100 and the control group of 82 patients. Subgroup analysis of elderly patients (> 65 years old) revealed significantly higher rates of acute [5 (17.9%) vs. 20 (58.8%); p = 0.001] and gangrenous cholecystitis [0 (0.0%) vs. 7 (20.6%); p = 0.013] in the "pandemic subgroup". Furthermore, significantly more early cholecystectomies were performed in this subgroup [5 (17.9%) vs. 20 (58.8%); p = 0.001]. There were no significant differences between the groups both in the overall and subgroup analysis regarding the operation time, intraoperative blood loss, length of hospitalization, morbidity and mortality.
conclusionElderly patients showed particularly higher rates of acute and gangrenous cholecystitis during the pandemic. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy can be performed safely in the COVID-19 era without negative impact on perioperative results. Therefore, we would assume that laparoscopic cholecystectomy can be recommended for any patient with acute cholecystitis, including the elderly.
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