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When patients have stones in the gallbladder at the time of cholecystitis (i.e., calculous cholecystitis), there is often a debate about whether the patient has simultaneous choledocholithiasis (CDL). This creates a secondary debate about whether the patient should proceed directly to cholecystectomy or first undergo endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) to clear the biliary tree of any stone material prior to surgery.
In a recent study, investigators created a model to predict the presence of choledocholithiasis in these patients, using retrospectively evaluated laboratory results and common bile duct diameter from 366 patients who underwent cholecystectomy. The optimal model included three predictors of concomitant CDL: a s…