Current status and progress of endoscopic drainage for acute cholecystitis

The fundamental treatment for acute cholecystitis is surgical cholecystectomy, especially laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Some high-risk surgical patients need gallbladder drainage. The traditional drainage method is percutaneous transhepatic gallbladder drainage. However, in recent years, two endoscopic approaches, including endoscopic transpapillary gallbladder drainage and endoscopic ultrasound-guided gallbladder drainage, have developed rapidly and have advantages in long-term outcomes. In this article, the authors discuss the historical development, technical characteristics, comparison between methods , adverse events and long-term outcomes of the two endoscopic drainage methods through literature review.