POSTCHOLECYSTECTOMY SYNDROME

Course overview

POST-CHOLECYSTECTOMY SYNDROME (PCS) IS THE TERM USED TO DESCRIBE THE PERSISTENCE OF BILIARY COLIC OR RIGHT UPPER QUADRANT ABDOMINAL PAIN WITH A VARIETY OF GASTROINTESTINAL SYMPTOMS SIMILAR TO THOSE IN PATIENTS WITH CHOLECYSTITIS PRIOR TO CHOLECYSTECTOMY. AS THE NAME SUGGESTS, THIS SYNDROME CAN REPRESENT EITHER A CONTINUATION OF SYMPTOMS CAUSED BY GALLBLADDER PATHOLOGY OR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW SYMPTOMS. THE SYMPTOMS INCLUDE FATTY FOOD INTOLERANCE, NAUSEA, VOMITING, HEARTBURN, FLATULENCE, INDIGESTION, DIARRHEA, JAUNDICE, AND INTERMITTENT EPISODES OF ABDOMINAL PAIN. POST-CHOLECYSTECTOMY SYNDROME CAN PRESENT EARLY, TYPICALLY IN THE POST-OPERATIVE PERIOD, BUT CAN ALSO MANIFEST MONTHS TO YEARS AFTER SURGERY.