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Updated: Apr 17, 2026

Laparoscopic Common Bile Duct Exploration in Patients with a Previous History of Biliary Tract Surgery
Published on: February 10, 2023
Open abdominal surgery: a risk factor for future laparoscopic surgery?
Shiva Seetahal1, Augustine Obirieze1, Edward E Cornwell1
1Department of Surgery, Howard University Hospital, Washington, DC, USA.
Background:
This study seeks to investigate the outcomes of laparoscopic procedures in patients with previous open abdominal surgery.
Methods:
Using data from the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (2005 to 2009), we identified patients who had undergone laparoscopic cholecystectomy, Nissen fundoplication, Heller myotomy, splenectomy, Roux-en-Y, sleeve gastrectomy, gastric band, appendectomy, or colectomy. Patients were then classified as to whether adhesiolysis (AD) was also carried out. Bivariate and multivariate analysis was used to compare groups.
Results:
A total of 162,415 patients met our inclusion criteria, comprising 4,501 (3%) in the AD group and 157,913 (97%) in the nonadhesiolysis (NAD) group. Patient who had received lysis of adhesion were older, had 41% higher odds of overall complications, 17% higher adjusted mean lysis of adhesion (P < .001), and 26% higher adjusted mean operation duration (P < .001).
Conclusions:
A history of previous open abdominal surgery increases the potential complication rate and hospital length of stay during subsequent laparoscopic surgery. The extent of this relationship deserves further investigation.

