PILOT EXPERIENCE WITH Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy in Jos, Nigeria - CHALLENGES and prospects

While laparoscopic cholecystectomy is the gold standard in developed countries for the removal of the diseased gallbladder, the procedure is just gaining popularity in Nigeria. This was a documentation of the authour's initial experience with laparoscopic cholecystectomy in a private hospital setting.

To highlight the challenges of laparoscopic cholecystectomy in our environment and recommend solutions.

This was a prospective analysis of 35 consecutive patients presenting for laparoscopic cholecystectomy at a private hospital with special interest in endoscopy located in Jos, North Central Nigeria from June 2008 to May 2011. A Standard four-port laparoscopic cholecystectomy was performed in all the patients. The demographics, clinical features and management outcome were entered in a proforma and analyzed with Epi-info.

A total of 35 laparoscopic cholecystectomies were performed during the study period. There were 5(14%) males and 30(86%) females giving a male: female ratio of 1:6. The mean age of the study population was 40.1± 11.4years and the mean operating time was 90 minutes with a range of 45-125 minutes. All the patients had chronic calculous cholecystitis and one (2.9%) of them also had empyema of the gall bladder. There were 2 conversions to open cholecystectomy in this study giving a conversion rate of 9.1%.

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is a safe and acceptable way of performing cholecystectomy in our environment even in a private hospital with careful patient selection, attention to details and performed by experienced surgeons.