ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: A number of prominent surgical trials and clinical guidelines regard length of hospital stay and rates of daycase surgery as being of upmost importance following cholecystectomy. However, it is unclear whether these outcomes also matter to patients. This study aimed to identify the factors patients regard as most important when admitted with acute gallstone pathology. METHODS: A 41-item survey was produced by combining outcomes assessed in recent clinical trials with results from a preliminary patient questionnaire. This was then given out prospectively to patients presenting with acute gallstone pathology, prior to their cholecystectomy. Patients were asked to read an information sheet about laparoscopic cholecystectomy and then complete the survey, scoring each item out of 100 in terms of importance to them. RESULTS: Fifty-six patients completed the survey (43 females; median age 51 years). Diagnoses were: cholecystitis (28 patients), biliary colic (13), pancreatitis (10), common bile duct stones (3) and cholangitis (2). The top-scoring survey item was "long-term quality of life after surgery", with a median value of 97 out of 100. Other high-scoring items included "cleanliness of the ward environment" and "pain control after surgery" (both 96). The lowest-scoring item was "being treated as a daycase" (54). CONCLUSION: Patients with acute gallstone pathology view long-term quality of life after surgery as the most important factor and daycase surgery as the least important. These results should be considered when planning future surgical trials and clinical guidelines.
