Laparoscopic cholecystectomy in rural setup

Background and aims: Cholelithiasis or gall stone disease is a significant healthcare problem among the adult population. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is widely accepted as the gold standard in symptomatic gall stone diseases. However, common bile duct injury is more frequent in laparoscopic cholecystectomy than open cholecystectomy. The present study audits 184 laparoscopic cholecystectomy patients in Tezpur Medical College from August 2014 to September 2019. This study aims to determine the advantages, intraoperative and postoperative complications in laparoscopic cholecystectomy and assess the reasons for conversion to open cholecystectomy. Methods: The retrospective study consists of 184 patients with symptomatic cholelithiasis/ chronic cholecystitis and treated by standard four-port laparoscopic cholecystectomy from Aug’2014 to Sept’2019 at Tezpur Medical College. The results and complications of laparoscopic cholecystectomy were documented for each case and were analysed. Results: Out of the 184 cases, 139 were females. The age of the patients ranged from 14 to 65 years. The average duration of operating time was 65 minutes. Conversion to open cholecystectomy was 3.2%. There were no postoperative abdominal abscesses, port site hernia, or mortality cases. There were two bile duct injuries. One patient with lateral damage to the common bile duct was managed by open repair, and the other subject reported later was referred to a higher centre. Conclusion: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy in our set-up proves to be a safe procedure and effective treatment of Gallstone diseases.

Keywords: Gallstone diseases, Open Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy, Rural setup.