Abstract:
Background. Gallstone disease (condition known as cholelithiasis) constitutes a significant health
problem in developed countries. It is estimated that at least 20 million persons in the United States have
gall stones and that approximately 1 million new cases of cholelithiasis develop each year. While thought
to be uncommon in Africa, cholelithiasis is currently diagnosed significantly more frequently than would
be expected from the previous studies. the prevalence of gallstone disease in Ethiopia is 5.2%. There is no
study in Eastern part of Ethiopia, so this study will show us the gap that existing in our hospitals. This
study assessed the magnitude and post-operative complications of this disease in Harar, Ethiopia.
Methodology: - A retrospective cross-sectional study was employed by analyzing patient records from
December 2017 to November 2021, at Department of General surgery, Hiwot Fana Specialized
University Hospital and Jegol General Hospital, both in Harar. All the necessary data were collected from
the patient’s charts and were collected by using pre-tested semi-structured checklist. Data entry was done
using Epi Data version 3.1 and analysis was done using SPSS statistical software version 20. Bivariate
analysis was used to Identify factors affecting Clinical profile and Operative outcome of Gallstone
disease with cut point of 0.25, then factors found to be significant was processed in multivariate analysis
to remove confounding factors statistical significance was declared for the p- value<0.05.
Result: one hundred and eighty patients were enrolled in the study. Majority (83.8%) of the patients were
in between 40-59 years of age. The chief complaint of most of the patients (77.2%) was right upper
quadrant pain. Post-operative complications were reported in 13.3% of patients. In multivariate logistic
regression analyses, acute cholecystitis (adjusted odds ratio (AOR), 14.3, 95% CI: 1.4-18.3), chronic
cholecystitis (AOR, 32, 95% CI: 9.7 – 59.3), and comorbidity (AOR), 55.2,95% CI:42.1-67.9) were
significantly associated with post-operative complications. No mortality was reported.
Conclusion: Open surgery remains the dominant procedure used to treat symptomatic cholelithiasis at
these two centers. Our findings revealed that open surgery is a safe and effective treatment for this disease
in the absence of routine laparoscopic services.
