Background: High risk surgical patients with acute cholecystitis are commonly treated with percutaneous cholecystostomy (PTC) drainage. The optimal timing of subsequent interval laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) remains unclear.
Methods: Medline, EMBASE, and Scopus were searched to identify studies published between 01/01/2000 and 31/12/2020, reporting on interval LC outcomes in patients initially treated by PTC. Early and late interval LC were defined as <30 and ≥ 30 days respectively. The Methodological Index for Nonrandomized Studies was used for quality assessment. Meta-analysis of proportions was conducted using a random-effects model.
Results: A total of 512 studies were screened, 41 met the inclusion criteria. There were 22 studies in both early and late interval LC groups, with 3 included studies reporting both early and late groups. Following quality assessment, 29 studies were included in the meta-analysis. There were no significant differences between early and late interval LC in terms of conversion rates (7.2% vs 8.3%, p = 0.854), 90-day morbidity (12.8% vs 15.9%, p = 0.496), and 90-day mortality (0.25% vs 0.32%, p = 0.704). Heterogeneity was significant (I2>50%) in all groups.
Conclusion: Current evidence of interval LC within or beyond 30 days demonstrates no significant impact on outcomes. Patient factors, clinical experience, and hospital facilities may prove more important predictors.
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