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Most patients with gallstone pancreatitis should undergo cholecystectomy to prevent recurrent episodes. However, appropriate timing of cholecystectomy is controversial. In this UCLA trial, patients with mild gallstone pancreatitis were randomized to laparoscopic cholecystectomy within 48 hours of hospital admission or to delayed laparoscopic cholecystectomy (performed after abdominal pain had resolved and laboratory abnormalities were resolving). Patients with severe pancreatitis, or those with suspected retained common duct stones or cholangitis, were excluded.
After 50 patients had been randomized, the trial was stopped according to a predefined termination criterion. Hospital length of stay — the primary endpoint — was markedly shorter in…