Safety of laparoscopic cholecystectomy performed by surgical residents

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is being widely performed by surgical residents, but specific outcomes have been poorly investigated. Data from 171 consecutive, unselected patients who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy performed by surgical residents were collected and matched with an equal number of randomly extracted laparoscopic cholecystectomies performed by experienced senior staff surgeons between 2000 and 2006 at our institution. Demographic data, emergency procedures, cholangiographies, complications and length of stay were not significantly different between the two groups. However, surgical residents performed the operations in less complicated patients (ASA group 3-4 2% vs. 8%, respectively, p = 0.04). Moreover, the median duration of surgery was significantly longer in the resident group (67 vs. 50 minutes, p < 0.001), with fewer additional contemporary procedures (3% vs. 7%, respectively, p = 0.009). This study established that although surgical residents operated on less complex patients with longer operative times, the intraoperative difficulties and main outcomes were the same as for the senior surgeons.