ReviewAnnals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England1998
Is cholecystectomy effective treatment for symptomatic gallstones? Clinical outcome after long-term follow-up.
Review in Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 1998. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 50 citations in OpenAlex.
- Postcholecystectomy diarrhoea rate and predictive factors: a systematic review of the literature.BMJ open · 2022Pooled it
- Systematic review of the clinical and cost effectiveness of cholecystectomy versus observation/conservative management for uncomplicated symptomatic gallstones or cholecystitis.Surgical endoscopy · 2015Pooled it
- Persistent and de novo symptoms after cholecystectomy: a systematic review of cholecystectomy effectiveness.Surgical endoscopy · 2013Pooled it
- Abdominal symptoms: do they disappear after cholecystectomy?Surgical endoscopy · 2003Pooled it
- Ten-year outcome after minilaparotomy versus laparoscopic cholecystectomy: a prospective randomised trial.Surgical endoscopy · 2013Trial
- Biliary stent migration after cholecystectomy following a single-preoperative ERCP: insights into real-world bile duct management.Surgical endoscopy · 2026Article
- Metabolic dysfunction-associated gallstone disease: expecting more from critical care manifestations.Internal and emergency medicine · 2023Review
- The role of cholecystectomy following endoscopic sphincterotomy and bile duct stone removal.Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England · 2023Article
- Is hyperkinetic gallbladder an indication for cholecystectomy?Surgical endoscopy · 2019Article
- Critical Care Aspects of Gallstone Disease.Journal of critical care medicine (Universitatea de Medicina si Farmacie din Targu-Mures) · 2019Article
- Surgical and endoscopic management of remnant cystic duct lithiasis after cholecystectomy--a case series.Journal of gastrointestinal surgery : official journal of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract · 2014Article
- Elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy for symptomatic uncomplicated gallstone disease: do the symptoms disappear?Surgical endoscopy · 2014Article
- Gallbladder contractility and volume characteristics in gallstone dyspepsia.World journal of gastroenterology · 2004Article
- Retained gallbladder/cystic duct remnant calculi as a cause of postcholecystectomy pain.Surgical endoscopy · 2002Article
- Gallstones.Current treatment options in gastroenterology · 1999Article
- Weight gain after laparoscopic cholecystectomy.Irish journal of medical scienceArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The expectation that cholecystectomy is effective treatment for symptomatic gallstones is not always achieved in surgical practice. The impact of cholecystectomy on the relief of gastrointestinal symptoms was evaluated in 92 patients followed up after surgery for a mean of 31.1 months (range 12-83 months). Abdominal pain continued to be present, or arose de novo, in 28 (30.4%) patients. Pain-free outcome after cholecystectomy was associated with a preoperative clinical diagnosis of biliary colic, fatty food intolerance, and a thick-walled gallbladder on ultrasound (P = 0.02). Logistic regression associated a thick-walled gallbladder, elevated gamma-glutamyl transpetidase, body mass index < 26, fat intolerance, and normal bowel habit with good postoperative results (P = 0.001). Application of each of these five factors to a clinical index failed to predict long-term pain-free outcome after cholecystectomy. Abdominal bloating (P = 0.03), dyspepsia (P < 0.001), heartburn (P < 0.007), fat intolerance (P < 0.001), nausea (P = 0.001) and vomiting (P < 0.001) were significantly improved after cholecystectomy, but diarrhoea, constipation and excessive flatus were not. Outcome benefit ratios confirmed that vomiting (0.96), nausea (0.87), dyspepsia (0.67), fat intolerance (0.57) and heartburn (0.51) were relieved by surgery. Cholecystectomy improved symptoms compared with a matched control group, suggesting that surgery remains the gold standard treatment of symptomatic gallstones.
Indexed as
Identifiers
9579123PMC2502763W1561272515What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.