The benefits of surgery for asymptomatic gallstones.

The risk of a patient developing complications of asymptomatic cholelithiasis is high enough to justify the mortality associated with prophylactic cholecystectomy. The operation effectively stops the progression of calculous biliary tract disease. If performed when the patient is young enough and healthy enough to tolerate the operation, and before the occurrence of complications which increase the mortality risk, the overall mortality and morbidity of calculous biliary tract disease could be significantly reduced.