Chronic cholecystitis historical perspective

Gallstones have been found in 3500 years old Egyptian mummies during the autopsies. In 1420, Antonio Benivieni was the first to describe gallstones. Carl Langenbuch performed the first cholecystectomy of a 43-year-old man who had suffered from biliary colic for sixteen years. Historically, open cholecystectomy was the treatment employed for chronic cholecystitis. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy was developed to treat chronic cholecystitis and the shift from open to laparoscopic cholecystectomy occurred in the late 1980s.

• Gallstone related diseases have an ancient history. Gallstones are found in 3500 years old Egyptian mummies during the autopsies.^[1]
• In 1420, Antonio Benivieni was the first to describe gallstones.^[2]
• In 1658, Francis Glisson described his own biliary colic attacks, “from which there is no release except by death”. He also described the liver capsule that bears his name.^[3]
• In 1687, Stalpert von der Wiel found gallstones accidentally during the surgery of a purulent upper abdominal abscess in a patient with a long history of abdominal pain.^[4]

The landmarks in the development of treatment strategies for acute cholecystitis are:^[5][6][7]

• In 1733, Jean-Louis Petit, a Parisian surgeon suggested that if biliary colic occurred in association with reddening of the abdominal skin, the surgeon should lance the area, remove the gallstones, and leave a gall fistula. In 1743, he performed this procedure.
• In 1859, when J. L. W. Thudichum proposed a two-stage elective cholecystostomy.
• In 1882, Langenbuch performed the first cholecystectomy of a 43-year-old man who had suffered from biliary colic for sixteen years.
• By 1890, 47 cholecystectomies were performed by twenty-seven surgeons, and in 1897 the number had risen to nearly a hundred operations with a mortality of less than 20%.
• In 1949, eosinophilic cholecystitis was first described.^[8]
• In 1976, xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis (XGC) was discovered by J.J. McCoy, Jr., and colleagues. Xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis is a rare form of gallbladder disease which mimics gallbladder cancer although it is not cancerous.
• Historically, open cholecystectomy was the treatment employed for the treatment of chronic cholecystitis.
• Laparoscopic cholecystectomy was developed to treat chronic cholecystitis and the shift from open to laparoscopic cholecystectomy occurred in the late 1980s.

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