Canberra Hospital resident Dr Douglas Greer and his colleagues noticed an usual trend in young patients last year.
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While gall bladder removals in children remain relatively rare — they are most commonly associated with young boys with blood diseases — they noticed more and more teenagers turning up with gallstones.
So after crunching the data of Canberra cases between 1992 and 2016, their study found more overweight and obese children were having their gall bladders removed.
“Increasingly it’s overweight and obese, particularly female, teenagers who undergo a cholecystectomy
after presenting with symptoms you historically see in a 40 year old," Dr Greer said.
Dr Greer said the study showed the surgical ramifications for childhood obesity were often overlooked.
"We noticed a bit of a run with a few teenage kids turning up with gallstones which we thought was a bit unusual," he said.
"They ended up having their gall bladders removed.
"I think it adds another facet to our understanding of what the affects of childhood obesity are.
"Childhood obesity is really interesting topic and one we don't surgically focus on much. The surgical ramifications should be more widely acknowledged."
The review analysed 79 patients undergoing cholecystectomy who were 18 years or younger, reviewing patient demographics including age, gender weight, height and percentiles.
The study found the heaviest 2 per cent of the obese childhood population accounted for 40 per cent of the childhood population who had their gall bladders removed in the past five years.
“Removing the gall bladder is a feature of Australia’s childhood obesity crisis that often goes unnoticed.”
Dr Greer said clinicians involved in the diagnosis and management of overweight and obese children
must be aware paediatric gall baldder removals and its implications. The study was relevant for clinicians involved in the diagnosis and management of these children.
He hopes to expand the study nationally in order to prove the trend that was observed.
In conjunction with Dr Sean Heywood, Associate Professor David Croaker, and Associate Professor
Sivakumaran Gananadha, Dr Greer will present their research at the Royal Australasian College of
Surgeon’s 87th Annual Scientific Congress which is being held in Sydney, May 7-11.
