Evaluation of Symptomatic Improvement after Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy for Gallbladder Stone Disease at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Sana’a City, Yemen

Export Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the symptomatic improvement after laparoscopic cholecystectomy for gallbladder stone disease. Methods: This retrospective descriptive study was conducted at the University of Science and Technology Hospital (USTH) in Sana’a, Yemen during the period between 2021 and 2022. All patients who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy due to a typical history of biliary colic were recruited for the study. Patients with intraoperative or postoperative complications or missed-contact or refused-to-participate patients were excluded. Data were collected using a developed structured questionnaire which was administered by contacting patients by telephone. The collected data included demographic characteristics, confirmation of preoperative typical symptoms of biliary colic, improvement after surgery, time (duration) of improvement, revisiting the surgeon or visiting another physician, diagnosis, investigation, procedures, medication, and final improvement. Data were collected during the period from January to February 2023. Data were analyzed using SPSS. Results: A total of 303 patients (42 males and 261 females) with a mean age of 41.16±14.1 years were included in this study. About 75.2% of the patients reported complete improvement of symptoms within 3 months of surgery, and the improvement rate increased to 96% within 1 year of surgery. The predominant persisting symptom was abdominal pain, followed by nausea, bloating, vomiting. After being subjected to further diagnosis, half of the patients who reported persisting symptoms (48%, 36/75) were reassured by doctors; however, the remaining had either gastritis (28%), irritable bowel syndrome (17.3%), or peptic ulcer (6.7%). No significant association was found between postoperative symptom improvement and gender (P > 0.05). Conclusions: There is substantial improvement in the symptoms following laparoscopic cholecystectomy throughout the first postoperative 3 months. The most common persisting symptoms following laparoscopic cholecystectomy are abdominal pain and nausea and the least common is vomiting. Preoperative misdiagnosis is the most common cause for the postponement of persisting symptoms’ improvement following laparoscopic cholecystectomy.