Post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiography laparoscopic cholecystectomy: challenging but safe

Up to 19% of patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) have common bile duct stones and may require endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERCP) before LC. The risk of complications of LC after ERCP is higher, and the optimal interval between ERCP and LC is disputed. In our unit, LC is performed approximately 6 weeks after ERCP. This study aims to compare outcomes between subsets of patients undergoing LC with or without prior ERCP.

All patients undergoing ERCP and elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy (ELC) over a 1-year period were included. Outcome measures included ERCP outcomes, duration of surgery, intraoperative findings, and postoperative outcomes. Two groups of patients were compared: LC after ERCP and ELC.

The study included 190 ELC patients and 43 patients with LC after ERCP (ERCP-LC) (December 2008 to December 2009). At ERCP, 25 patients (58%) had ductal stones. The post-ERCP complication rate was 5%. The median time to LC was 42 days, and 6 patients (14%) were readmitted before LC. There were more severe adhesions and longer median operating times in the ERCP-LC group (75 minutes for ELC vs 110 minutes for ERCP-LC, P = .013). We found no significant differences in rates of conversion to open surgery, postoperative complications, lengths of stay, and readmission rates.

Interval LC after ERCP is a more technically challenging procedure but is associated with a low rate of complications. Although there is emerging evidence that early LC after ERCP is feasible, our study shows that our current practice of delaying LC by approximately 6 weeks is safe.