Acute acalculous cholecystitis was observed to increase in frequency between 1950 and 1979, an increase that was statistically significant. The greatest part of this increase occurred between 1965 and 1979. Acute acalculous cholecystitis was also found to be associated with a higher mortality rate, more than twice that of acute calculous cholecystitis. Acute acalculous cholecystitis occurred in a variety of clinical settings including bacterial sepsis, severe trauma including surgical trauma and burns, multiple transfusions, and severe debilitation. The lesion in the gallbladder consists of intense injury of blood vessels in the muscularis and serosa similar to those induced experimentally by in vivo activation of factor XII dependent pathways. Possibly because of the intensity of vascular injury, acute acalculous cholecystitis with minimal clinical manifestations may rapidly progress to gangrene with perforation. Undelayed surgical treatment, which has become more widely accepted over the past 50 years, is essential. It may have also contributed to the increased recognition of this clinical entity.

In the 46-year period from September 1, 1932 to September 1, 1978, 11,808 patients were operated on for nonmalignant biliary tract disease. In 80.1% of these patients, the disease was considered chronic, and in 19.9%, acute inflammation was superimposed on the existing condition. There were 207 postoperative deaths, a mortality rate of 1.7%. Advanced age, acute cholecystitis and common duct stones were the principal determinants of operative mortality. Cholecystectomy for chronic cholecystitis was performed in 7,413 patients with an operative mortality of 0.5%. Choledochotomy in search of residual or recurrent common duct calculi was performed in 341 patients with a mortality of 2.1%. Detailed analysis of the causes of death in 105 patients who died during the years 1962 through 1978 revealed that cardiovascular disease, especially myocardial infarction, was the most frequent cause of death. Liver disease, most commonly cirrhosis, was also a major factor in operative mortality.

The proportion of the population of the U.S. 65 years of age and over is increasing. Biliary tract disease is estimated to involve 15% of the adult population. A review of 12,200 patients treated surgically at one medical center reveals that 2401 (20%) had acute cholecystitis. There were 93 deaths, for a mortality rate of 3.8%. Sixty-five of the 93 deaths, for a mortality rate of 3.8%. Sixty-five of the 93 deaths occurred in 665 patients 65 years of age and older, for a mortality rate of 9.8%. These elderly patients accounted for 69.9% of the deaths from acute cholecystitis. It is suggested that acute cholecystitis in patients 65 years of age and older may be prevented by a more aggressive surgical approach to cholelithiasis when those patients are younger. Indeed, the present improved methods of diagnosis and an awareness of gallstones by the public is resulting in many more patients seeking medical advice in the early years of the disease. On the basis of a review of an experience in the surgical treatment of acute cholecystitis two proposals are made concerning the management of patients 65 years of age and over. First, the operation should be performed with minimal delay following diagnosis, and such specific correction of physiologic impairment should be performed as is feasible. Second, the procedure to be performed on the elderly patient should be one that alleviates the present problem, and accomplished by imposing the minimal burden upon the patient.