The use of percutaneous cholecystostomy in the treatment of acute cholecystitis during pregnancy.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of precutaneous cholecystostomy (PC) in treatment of acute cholecystitis during pregnancy. The author retrospectively evaluated six pregnant patients who underwent PC for acute cholecystitis between 1994 and 2014. The median age of the patients were 31 years (22-36). Two patients were in first trimester and the others in third trimester. All patients were underwent medical therapy before PC; since no improvement was observed in their complaints and physical examination findings, the author performed PC. All patients underwent LC following PC. PC is a safe, alternative treatment modality for palliative purposes in pregnant patients with acute cholecystitis who are unresponsive to medical therapy or who have comorbid conditions making surgery risky, or in acute cholecystitis cases occurring in third trimester of pregnancy to reach postpartum period when surgery is safer.