While point-of-care ultrasound (PoCUS)-first and computed tomography (CT)-first approaches resulted in comparable emergency department (ED) length of stay (LOS) and time to surgical consultation for patients with mild AC, performing PoCUS within the first 60 min or CT within 120 min was associated with shorter ED-LOS and earlier surgical consultation, enhancing the efficiency of ED management in patients with mild acute cholecystitis (AC).

A total of 1627 patients were included with 264 in the PoCUS first group. In the PoCUS group, door-to-US time was positively associated with ED-LOS (β = 0.27, p < 0.001) and time to surgical consultation (β = 0.36, p < 0.001). Similarly, door-to-CT time was also positively associated with ED-LOS (β = 0.21, p < 0.001) and time to surgical consultation (β = 0.75, p < 0.001) in the CT group. Adult patients with CT-confirmed grade I AC were retrospectively enrolled and divided into the PoCUS-first group and the CT-first group.

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