Percutaneous transhepatic cholecystostomy and delayed laparoscopic cholecystectomy in critically ill patients with acute calculus cholecystitis.

Background: The ultimate therapy for acute cholecystitis is cholecystectomy. However, in critically ill elderly patients the mortality of emergency cholecystectomy may reach up to 30%. Open cholecystostomy performed under local anesthesia was considered to be the procedure of choice for treatment of acute cholecystitis in high-risk patients.