Avoiding common bile duct injury during laparoscopic cholecystectomy

With the introduction of laparoscopic cholecystectomy, the general surgery community was thrust into the new world of minimally invasive surgery. The marked benefits of laparoscopic cholecystectomy became apparent in a short period of time, driving the procedure to widespread use long before any clinical trials or studies were available to document the procedure's safety. Although there was early concern over the potential dangers of the laparoscopic approach, it took several years before there was enough data to verify this concern. The most significant of these potential dangers is injury to the bile ducts.