Relationships among ultrasonographic and demographic, clinical, laboratory findings of patients with acute cholecystitis

BACKGROUND: To evaluate correlations among ultrasonographic, demographic, clinical and laboratory findings of patients with acute cholecystitis. METHODS: The patients older than 17 years of age with acute colecystitis admitted to the general surgery clinics between January 1991 and December 2000 were evaluated and compared in terms of various parameters. RESULTS: 336 (female, 212; male, 124) patients were included in the study. Mean age was 55.71±15.10 Two hundred and seventeen patients presented with more than 12 hours of pain, and 277 patients had multiple biliary stones. Gallbladder wall thickness (GWT) was found to be < 3 mm in 223, and > 5 mm in 58 patients. Pericolic fluid (PCF), distended gallbladder, sonographic Murphy positivity were found in 7.7%, 27.7%, and 9.2% of the cases. PCF was significantly higher in patients who had pain for more than 12 hours. Unlike right upper quadrant tenderness and Murphy sign, localized rebound, rigidity, and percussion tenderness showed significant correlations with abnormal USG findings. Leukocyte levels correlated significantly with PCF, multiple stones, GWT (>5mm) and distended gallbladder. Complications were significantly higher in patients with over 5 mm GWT and PCF. CONCLUSION: Due to significant correlations with abnormal ultrasonographic findings and the abovementioned parameters, prospective studies to evaluate these parameters for the diagnosis of acute cholecystitis are required.

Akut kolesistitli hastalarda demografik, klinik ve laboratuvar bulgularýnýn ultrasonografik bulgularla iliþkisi