The Role of Laparoscopic and Open Cholecystectomy in the Treatment of Cholelithiasis in the Context of Current Knowledge

ABSTRACT Background Cholelithiasis is a very common surgical disease worldwide. This disease is treated by open and laparoscopic surgery, and its complications are related to the methods and techniques used in surgical procedures. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether there is any difference in terms of morbidity, mortality, duration of hospital stay, operation time, return to active life and complications developing early in open cholecystectomy patients with laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Materials and methods The data of the study were obtained by prospective evaluation of open and laparoscopic cholecystectomy patients at SSK Izmir Training Hospital 3th Surgical Clinic between March 1995 and October 1996. Patients were examined for age, gender, feature and duration of symptoms, whether or not there was previous operation, presence of comorbid diseases, peroperative and postoperative complications. Results We investigated diabetes, hypertension, asymptomatic coronary artery disease and past operation history in both groups of patients. Seven (23.3%) of the patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy and 18 (36%) of the patients undergoing open cholecystectomy had the above diseases. Of the 30 patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy, 4 (13.3%) had undergone lower abdominal operation. Open cholecystectomy was performed in 4 (13.3%) of the patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Conclusion In this study, we performed laparascopic and open cholecystectomy in our study which was performed within a period of about 1.5 years and it was determined that laparoscopic cholecystectomy was an advantageous method because of the shortened patient hospitalization period, shortness of return to physical activity, postoperative pain and better cosmetic results