Recurrence of biliary disease following non-operative management in elderly patients.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to determine the proportion of symptomatic recurrence following initial non-operative management of gallstone disease in the elderly and to test possible predictors.

Methods: This is a single institution retrospective chart review of patients 65 years and older with an initial hospital visit (V1) for symptomatic gallstone disease, over a 4-year period. Patients with initial "non-operative" management were defined as those without surgery at V1 and without elective surgery at visit 2 (V2).