Does Cholecystectomy Increase Operative Risk of Colonic Surgery?

Abstract

Little has been written about the risk of cholecystectomy combined with colonic surgery. We have carried out a prospective matched case-control study on 39 patients who had undergone colonic resection and simultaneous cholecystectomy and on 39 patients who had undergone colonic resection alone who served as matched controls. The two groups were compared with respect to the duration of surgery, plasma and blood units transfused during and after surgery, duration of postoperative hospital stay, postoperative complications and mortality. Statistical analysis of the results did not reveal any significant differences between the two groups and seem to exclude the possibility that simultaneous cholecystectomy increases the risks of colonic resection. This leads us to conclude that, when gallstones – even if asymptomatic – and colonic disease are associated, cholecystectomy can be performed during colonic resection.