Evaluation of Early versus Delayed Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy in Acute Cholecystitis

Background. The role of early laparoscopic cholecystectomy for acute cholecystitis with cholelithiasis is not yet established. The aim of our prospective randomized study was to evaluate the safety and feasibility of early LC for acute cholecystitis and to compare the results with delayed LC. Methods. Between March 2007 to December 2008, 50 patients with diagnosis of acute cholecystitis were assigned randomly to early group, n = 25 (LC within 24 hrs of admission), and delayed group, n = 25 (initial conservative treatment followed by delayed LC, 6-8 weeks later). Results. We found in our study that the conversion rate in early LC and delayed LC was 16% and 8%, respectively, Operation time for early LC was 69.4 min versus 66.4 min for delayed LC, postoperative complications for early LC were 24% versus 8% for delayed LC, and blood loss was 159.6 mL early group versus 146.8 mL for delayed group. However early LC had significantly shorter hospital stay (4.1 days versus 8.6 days). Conclusions. Early LC for acute cholecystitis with cholelithiasis is safe and feasible, offering the additional benefit of shorter hospital stay. It should be offered to the patients with acute cholecystitis, provided that the surgery is performed within 96 hrs of acute symptoms by an experienced surgeon.