Copyright
©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Natural history of asymptomatic gallbladder stones in clinic without beds: A long-term prognosis over 10 years
Yuji Sakai, Toshio Tsuyuguchi, Hiroshi Ohyama, Junichiro Kumagai, Takashi Kaiho, Masayuki Ohtsuka, Naoya Kato, Tadao Sakai
Yuji Sakai, Tadao Sakai, Department of Gastroenterology, Sakai Clinic, Kimistu 299-1162, Japan
Yuji Sakai, Hiroshi Ohyama, Naoya Kato, Department of Gastroenterology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba 260-8677, Japan
Toshio Tsuyuguchi, Department of Gastroenterology, Chiba Prefectural Sawara Hospital, Chiba Prefectural Sawara Hospital, Sawara 287-0003, Japan
Junichiro Kumagai, Department of Gastroenterology, Kimitsu Central Hospital, Kisarazu 292-8535, Japan
Takashi Kaiho, Department of Surgery, Kimitsu Central Hospital, Kisarazu 292-8535, Japan
Masayuki Ohtsuka, Department of General Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba 260-8677, Japan
Author contributions: Sakai Y, Ohtsuka M, Tsuyuguchi T, and Kato N were responsible for manuscript preparation; Sakai Y wrote the paper; Tsuyuguchi T and Sakai T revised the manuscript; Ohyama H, Kumagai J, and Kaiho T collected the references.
Institutional review board statement: A study at this clinic was conducted after obtaining approval from all patients about the use of data. We requested the Institutional Review Board at Chiba Prefectural Sawara Hospital to review data and obtained their approval (IRB No. 4-12).
Informed consent statement: In order to know the long-term prognosis, we confirmed the prognosis by directly calling the patient and the transportation hospitals in addition to the information at the outpatient clinic.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare having no conflicts of interest.
Data sharing statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See:
https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Corresponding author: Yuji Sakai, MD, PhD, Doctor, Department of Gastroenterology, Sakai Clinic, 9-18-8 Minamikoyasu, Kimistu 299-1162, Japan. sakai4754@yahoo.co.jp
Received: September 3, 2023
Peer-review started: September 3, 2023
First decision: October 24, 2023
Revised: October 31, 2023
Accepted: December 18, 2023
Article in press: December 18, 2023
Published online: January 6, 2024
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
Several reports on a long-term prognosis of asymptomatic gallbladder stones that have been available to date are mainly from facilities that can accommodate inpatients. As far as we know, there has been no report to date from a clinic without beds that observed clinical courses of more than a decade.
Research motivation
There is currently no study of the long-term prognosis of asymptomatic gallbladder stones from a clinic without beds.
Research objectives
To determine the long-term prognosis of asymptomatic gallbladder stones in a clinic without beds.
Research methods
We followed up 237 cases diagnosed with asymptomatic gallbladder stones.
Research results
Those patients whose condition was asymptomatic during the observation period accounted for 214 cases (90.3%). The asymptomatic period was 3898.9279 ± 46.871 d (50-4111 d, 10.7 years on average).
Research conclusions
When the condition turned symptomatic, patients were transported to hospitals with beds that could address the condition, and no deaths related to biliary complications was reported. Asymptomatic gallbladder stones were considered to be well followed in a bedless clinic.
Research perspectives
Our study was a retrospective study in a single institution. A prospective study in a large number of bedless clinics is considered necessary in the future.
