[Laparoscopic cholecystectomy. A recommendable indication in acute cholecystitis?]

While laparoscopic cholecystectomy has become the procedure of choice for the elective treatment of symptomatic cholecystolithiasis the question whether patients with acute cholecystitis should be operated laparoscopically or conventionally is still debated. Nevertheless, more and more surgeons tend to use the laparoscopic approach even in patients with acute cholecystitis. Of 1006 laparoscopic cholecystectomies performed at our hospital 42 were done for acute cholecystitis. Conversion to an open procedure was necessary in only one patient because of severe inflammatory changes. The overall mortality was zero. The average age was 45.9 years for all patients and 50.4 years for those with acute cholecystitis. The average operating time in patients with acute cholecystitis was 81 minutes compared to 62 minutes in patients who underwent elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The complication rate and the average hospitalization time did not differ significantly between the two groups. Our own data as well as the data retrieved from the literature seem to indicate that laparoscopic cholecystectomy is superior to the open procedure in the treatment of acute cholecystitis. Prerequisite is that the operation is performed less than 72 hours after the onset of the symptoms by an experienced operating team and the readiness to convert to open procedure if necessary. Under those circumstances laparoscopic cholecystectomy seems to be the treatment of choice for acute cholecystitis.