The results of the economic evaluation suggest that , on average , the surgery strategy costs £ 1236 more per patient than the conservative management strategy but was , on average , more effective .
An increase in the number of people requiring surgery while treated conservatively corresponded to a reduction in the cost-effectiveness of the conservative strategy .
The results of this assessment indicate that cholecystectomy is still the treatment of choice for many symptomatic people .
However , approximately half of the people in the observation group did not require surgery or suffer complications in the long term indicating that a conservative therapeutic approach may represent a valid alternative to surgery in this group of people .
BACKGROUND Approximately 10 - 15 % of the adult population suffer from gallstone disease , cholelithiasis , with more women than men being affected .
Cholecystectomy is the treatment of choice for people who present with biliary pain or acute cholecystitis and evidence of gallstones .
However , some people do not experience a recurrence after an initial episode of biliary pain or cholecystitis .
As most of the current research focuses on the surgical management of the disease , less attention has been dedicated to the consequences of conservative management .
OBJECTIVES To determine the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of  cholecystectomy  compared with observation/conservative management in people presenting with uncomplicated symptomatic gallstones ( biliary pain ) or cholecystitis .
Prevalence of biliary tract disease in India: a sonographic study in adult population in Kashmir.
Sonography was used to investigate the prevalence of symptomatic and silent  biliary tract disease , in free living urban population in Kashmir . A r and omly drawn sample of 1695 subjects aged 15 years or above was interviewed by a question naire . Twenty six had previous cholecystectomies , all for gall stones .  Ultrasonography was carried out on 1104 ( 65.1 % ) . The responder rates for  ultrasonography  in men ( 64.3 % ) and in women ( 66.0 % ) were similar ( p greater than 0.2 ) . Gall stones  were detected in 49 adults . Three of these had previous biliary symptoms . The prevalence of gall stones in adult population was 6.12 % ( men 3.07 % and women 9.6 % ) . The prevalence of gall stones rose with age in both sexes to a peak in the sixth decade prevalence of gall stones was significantly higher in age adjusted parous women than in nullipara . There was no correlation with obesity , diet , or socioeconomic status . Five subjects had sonographic appearances of the worm Ascaris lumbricodis in the bile ducts : and had previous biliary symptoms
The results of the economic evaluation suggest that , on average , the surgery strategy costs £ 1236 more per patient than the conservative management strategy but was , on average , more effective .
An increase in the number of people requiring surgery while treated conservatively corresponded to a reduction in the cost-effectiveness of the conservative strategy .
The results of this assessment indicate that cholecystectomy is still the treatment of choice for many symptomatic people .
However , approximately half of the people in the observation group did not require surgery or suffer complications in the long term indicating that a conservative therapeutic approach may represent a valid alternative to surgery in this group of people .
BACKGROUND Approximately 10 - 15 % of the adult population suffer from gallstone disease , cholelithiasis , with more women than men being affected .
Cholecystectomy is the treatment of choice for people who present with biliary pain or acute cholecystitis and evidence of gallstones .
However , some people do not experience a recurrence after an initial episode of biliary pain or cholecystitis .
As most of the current research focuses on the surgical management of the disease , less attention has been dedicated to the consequences of conservative management .
OBJECTIVES To determine the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of  cholecystectomy  compared with observation/conservative management in people presenting with uncomplicated symptomatic gallstones ( biliary pain ) or cholecystitis .