Around 20% of adults in the western world have gallstones1 but only one in five patients with gallstones ever develops symptoms.1 Because patients with abdominal pain present frequently to general practitioners or to specialist care and often receive a scan,2,3 finding gallstones or sludge during work-up has a high a priori likelihood and they are easily attributed as a cause of the symptoms. The ready access and preference for cholecystectomy in patients with symptomatic, uncomplicated gallstones has made cholecystectomy the most frequently done procedure in general surgery,4 with more than 900 000 annual procedures done in the USA alone.
Original Article: [Comment] Pain after cholecystectomy for symptomatic gallstones