Pain Persists in Many Patients Five Years After Removal of the Gallbladder: Observations From Two Randomized Controlled Trials of Symptomatic, Noncomplicated Gallstone Disease and Acute Cholecystitis

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.