Abstract

After removal of the gallbladder, pain may persist in some patients. To study this condition, 124 patients from two randomized trials, including those with symptomatic noncomplicated gallbladder stones (n = 90) and acute cholecystitis (n = 34), were interviewed, while 139 patients (90%) excluded from both trials responded to a questionnaire 5 years after the operation. Thirty-four patients (27%) of those randomized had pain; 23 (18%) had diffuse, steady pain; and 11 (9%) had pain attacks resembling their preoperative symptoms. A significant dominance of diffuse pain occurred in women (P = 0.024), especially those younger than 60 years (P = 0.004). A tendency for the diffuse type to be dominant was also present in the group of female patients with symptomatic noncomplicated gallbladder stones (P = 0.052). Of the excluded patients, 18% (25/139) had pain, but 88% of them (96% of the men and 87% of the women) were satisfied with the result of the operation. The overall number of patients with postoperative pain was 22% (59/263). We conclude that persisting abdominal pain 5 years after the operation was mainly of a nonspecific type, found mostly in younger women who had had noncomplicated gallstone disease. Eighty-eight percent of the excluded patients declared themselves satisfied with the result of cholecystectomy.