Acute pancreatitis is a common diagnosis worldwide, with more than 220,000 cases reported annually in the United States alone. The leading etiology is gallstones.1 Gallstone pancreatitis is thought to occur due to transient obstruction of the common channel that drains both the biliary and pancreatic ducts, resulting in inflammation of the pancreas. The pancreatitis that ensues is usually mild and self-limited and the treatment is initially supportive with subsequent laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). However, a small subgroup of patients develop severe pancreatitis and/or concomitant cholangitis. When the latter is present, ERC and sphincterotomy with stone extraction as indicated are typically performed.
While there is a clear consensus that patients who present with gallstone pancreatitis should undergo cholecystectomy to prevent recurrence, precise timing of surgery remains controversial. In patients with severe pancreatitis (Ranson's \> 3), there is consensus that surgery is delayed until the pancreatitis has resolved because early operation is associated with a higher complication rate. 2 However, despite more than 30 years of debate in the surgical literature, the optimal timing of surgery in mild to moderate pancreatitis (Ranson's ≤ 3) remains unclear. With recurrence rates for gallstone pancreatitis reported as high as 63%3 and with some of the repeat attacks occurring within two weeks of initial index presentation1, most investigators have recommended cholecystectomy during the initial hospitalization.4,5 Still, the actual timing of surgery during the initial index hospitalization is unsettled. In practice, surgeons often delay surgery until there is evidence of complete resolution of the inflammatory process, as evidenced by absence of abdominal pain and normalization of liver functional tests and pancreatic enzymes.6 Unfortunately, this strategy may result in prolongation of hospitalization without any proven benefit.
A previous prospective, non-randomized study from our institution suggested that early cholecystectomy could safely be performed within 48 hours of admission in patients with mild to moderate pancreatitis, regardless of resolution of abdominal pain and abnormal laboratory values. In this study, when compared to a retrospective control group in which surgery was delayed until there was resolution of clinical and laboratory parameters, hospital stay was significantly reduced from a median of 7 days to 4 days, without additional complications.7 In order to address the optimal timing of surgery in a more definite fashion, a prospective randomized study was performed in which patients with mild to moderate gallstone pancreatitis were allocated to either an early group (surgery within 48 hours of presentation) or a control group (surgery after resolution of abdominal pain and normalization of laboratory values) and assessed overall outcomes.
