Percutaneous Cholecystostomy for Treatment of Benign Gallbladder Disease

Abstract

Until about 10 years ago, the gallbladder was generally off limits to interventional radiologists. Despite its prominent and superficial position in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen, puncture and/or catheterization of the gallbladder was felt to entail an excessive risk of bile leakage and peritonitis. Sporadic reports of successful catheterization were published in the latter portion of the 1970s but it was not until 1982 that SHAVER et al. established that percutaneous drainage of the gallbladder could be accomplished (Elyaderani et al. 1979; Shaver et al. 1982; Amberg and Chun 1981). Since that time, a large number of reports have documented the safety and utility of percutaneous gallbladder catheterization (Hawkins 1985; Eggermont et al. 1985; McGahan and Lindfors 1989; Teplick et al. 1990; Lo et al. 1995; Boland et al. 1993, 1994a; Browning et al. decompression of acute cholecystitis, but the scope of utilization quickly broadened to attempts to treat cholelithiasis, with the use of a large array of techniques and devices. For the most part those efforts, although initially successful, have fallen by the wayside as a result of the parallel development of laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Despite the lack of broad use of percutaneous gallstone extraction and/or dissolution, percutaneous cholecystostomy is now an accepted interventional technique that is performed throughout the world.