What is Prophylactic Cholecystectomy?

Gall stone disease is fairly common nowadays. Researchers have found out that 17% percent of people are having gall stones at the time of death. Only percent of these people with develop symptoms due to gall stones.

Cholecystectomy is the method of treatment available to treat gall stones. It is usually performed in patients with symptomatic gall stone disease. So, when do we do cholycystectomy in asymptomatic patients?

There are several instances where we do cholecystectomy, even the patient is not symptomatic. That is when,

• the patient is a known diabetic patient
• patients with congenital hemolytic anemias
• in those due to undergo bariatric surgery for morbid obesity

If your are having any of these conditions, your doctor will do an ultrasound scan of the abdomen to detect any gall stones. If they present, he might decide to do a prophylactic cholecystectomy.