Acute Cholecystitis: The Question of Early or Late Operation

During the five‐year period from 1963 to 1968 there were 327 elective cholecystectomies, and 128 cholecystectomies carried out during an attack of acute cholecystitis. The patients in the acute group were significantly older than those in the elective group. The operative mortality was 1.2% in the elective group and 1.6% in the acute group. The only significant difference in the incidence of complications was that temporary biliary fistula which occurred only in the acute group.