Gallbladder Disease in Children: A 20-year Single-center Experience

ABSTRACT

Objective: Aim of this study was to examine the changes in incidence of pediatriccholecystectomies. Methods:Based on a review of hospital-records, children were dividedinto two groups regarding year of surgery (Group I 1998-2007; Group II 2008-2017) and theircharacteristics were compared. Results: Number of cholecystecomies increased from 11 to34. Median age increased from 11 to 15.5 years and mean BMI increased from 19.2 kg/m2 to23.0 kg/m2. Hereditary spherocytosis decreased from 63.6% to 11.8% (P=0.001) ofindications for cholecystectomy, while proportion of cholesterol stones increased from 27.3%to 70.6% (P=0.006). Frequency of laparoscopic cholecystectomy increased from 36.4% to85.3% (P=0.001). Duration of hospital stay shortened from 8 to 4 days (P=0.008).Conclusions: Number of pediatric cholecystectomies has significantly increased in the last20 years, as well as average BMI of the observed population This probably signifies acorrelation between rising obesity rates and increase in frequency of symptomaticcholelithiasis in children