Postcholecystectomy syndrome

Postcholecystectomy syndrome is a condition in which the pain that worried the patient before the cholecystectomy remains after the operation. In the postcholecystectomy syndrome, one should distinguish a group of diseases that are directly related to surgical intervention, and the diseases that existed before the operation and with the performed intervention are not related. The last group includes: a hernia of the esophageal aperture of the diaphragm, gastritis, peptic ulcer, pancreatitis, colitis, kidney disease, radicular syndrome and many others.

A severe group consists of patients whose suffering is directly related to the operative intervention. Defects in intraoperative diagnostics and surgical techniques may lead to the removal of stones in the biliary tract, cicatricial narrowing of the bile ducts, a long stump of the cystic duct, stenosis of the large papilla of the duodenal ulcer (Fater's nipple). Indications for examination are pain syndrome or mechanical jaundice, cholangitis. After a careful study using ultrasound, retrograde pancreatocholangiography, in a number of cases, percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography clarifies the nature of the pathology and determines the type of necessary surgical intervention.

The outlook is favorable in most cases.

Prevention: detailed examination of the patient prior to cholecystectomy, adequate intraoperative examination of the biliary tract, thorough technique of performing cholecystectomy.