Adapted from BMJ 21 September 2025
Cholecystectomy is a commonly undertaken operation for the relief of gall stone pain. In the US 700,000 of these are done, now usually by laparoscopy.
A few years ago a trial was done that randomised patients with uncomplicated, symptomatic gall stone colic to either immediate operation or restricting the operation only to people who had severe recurrent attacks. After a year, symptoms were the same in each group.
After another five years, results have found that the restrictive strategy results in a small reduction in the operation rate, without any increase in complications.
However, whether operated on or not, two thirds of the patients get remission of the pain while one third do not.
My comment: Presumably it would be worthwhile finding out what is the actual cause of the recurrent pain.
Diabetes Diet 
Oh this takes me back to my first year post-graduation. I enjoyed doing general surgical terms. But there was one general surgeon who I had some difficulty with. His eyesight was failing, and open cholecystectomies were always difficult. As his assistant, it was my job to hold a Deaver retractor on the liver. This would give him a clear view. I got yelled at quite a bit when he couldn’t see the gall bladder. He claimed I wasn’t holding the retractor still. He just couldn’t focus on his operating field.
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