[Laparoscopic cholecystectomy in a child with sickle cell disease]

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy has become the procedure of choice for the removal of the diseased gallbladder in children. Its use in small children and infants is rare. At the Department of Pediatric Surgery of the Medical faculty in Zagreb five children underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy. One of them was a five year old boy with sickle cell disease and cholelithiasis. Before the advent of laparoscopy, few children with sickle cell disease and cholelithiasis underwent cholecystectomy, because of the high morbidity associated with open cholecystectomy. The authors use the case to present details of the operative procedure of laparoscopic cholecystectomy in small children and infants. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is the procedure of choice in the management of cholelithiasis in small children and infants, especially those with sickle cell disease.