Master's thesis
Niv Kousgaard & Sofie Møllegaard
Department of Abdominal Surgery, OUH
| Project management | ||
| Project status | Open | |
| Data collection dates | ||
| Start | 01.09.2023 | |
| End | 01.09.2025 | |
Natural history of symptomatic uncomplicated gallstone disease: a cohort study from a source population of more than 500,000 individuals in Denmark during elect
Short summary
The aim of this populations-based retrospective cohort study on Funen in Denmark, is to get a better understanding of the absolute risk of developing complications to symptomatic gallstones based on a contemporary population consisting of individuals from an unselected background population will in turn help clinicians and patients in their shared decision-making when considering elective cholecystectomy to prevent recurrent symptoms or complications to gallstones.
Rationale
Gallstone disease is defined by the presence of gallstones with corresponding symptoms, e.g., colicky upper right quadrant pain, while complicated gallstone disease constitutes pancreatitis, cholecystitis and cholangitis. Gallstone disease is very common and leads to more than 9000 cholecystectomies annually in Denmark. When patients are diagnosed with uncomplicated gallstone disease, they are offered an elective cholecystectomy, but due to covid-19 and the partial shutdown of the healthcare system, most elective surgery has been cancelled or postponed for the past years. This has provided a unique opportunity to examine the spontaneous clinical course of symptomatic - and initially uncomplicated - gallstone disease and ascertain the risk of developing complications or aggravated symptoms necessitating cholecystectomy. Previous studies on the risk of developing complications to gallstones are based on American or southern European populations or have mainly included patients with asymptomatic gallstones and only relatively few patients with symptomatic gallstone disease. There are no studies based on contemporary northern European populations, where specific dietary habits among other factors may mean that their risk of developing complications to gallstones varies considerably from other populations. A better understanding of the absolute risk of developing complications to symptomatic gallstones based on a contemporary population consisting of individuals from an unselected background population will in turn help clinicians and patients in their shared decision-making when considering elective cholecystectomy to prevent recurrent symptoms or complications to gallstones.
Description of the cohort
Patients diagnosed with uncomplicated gallstone disease, at the Department of Abdominal Surgery, OUH. Inclusion and observational periode from 1. January 2020 to 1. July 2023.
Data and biological material
Data from the patient journal