Clinical Manifestations of Cholelithiasis in Quito, Ecuador. A Cohort Study

Abstract

Introduction: A prospective study was carried out, with the aim of establishing the clinical manifestations of cholelithiasis in the population of Quito, Ecuador. Methods: During the period from January 2012 to October 2017, 534 patients were referred from different outpatient clinics of the Ecuadorian Institute of Social Security to the Batan Medical Center with the diagnosis of cholelithiasis after a clinical assessment and abdominal ultrasound, to be treated surgically. Results: Sixty-nine percent of patients were female with a male-female ratio of 1:2.21. Mean age was 44.9 years. Pain was the most common symptom in our study: 95.7%. Among these patients, pain was located in the epigastrium in 49.8%, in the right hypochondrium in 45.1% and only 0.8% had low back pain. Pain ranged from moderate and even severe. The remaining 4.3% of patients had dyspepsia or were asymptomatic. Conclusions: This finding highlights the fact that epigastric pain must be always considered as a clinical manifestation on cholelithiasis.