Does endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography have a negative effect on laparoscopic cholecystectomy?

We have observed that patients who had undergone endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) had some difficulties with laparoscopic cholecystectomy procedures. Through a retrospective study, we planned to compare the surgical procedures between patients who had undergone ERCP and those who had not in order to clarify this.

The results of 122 patients who had undergone ERCP because of choledocholithiasis before undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy procedures between 2008 and 2011 were compared to the values of 2140 patients operated because of cholelithiasis only within the same period.

Among the patients who underwent surgical procedures following ERCP, 80 (65%) were female and 42 (35%) were male. The average age of the patients was 51.9 years (range: 20-83 years). The operation period after the procedure was 30.14 days (range: 1-93 days). Although the hospitalization period was 4.67 days (range: 1-22 days), the postoperative hospitalization period was 2.68 days (range: 1-15 days). Regarding the difficulty of operation, adhesion in 58 (47.5%) patients, bleeding in two (1.6%) patients, and conversion to open procedure in 12 (9.8) patients were observed. In two (1.6%) patients, bleeding and biliary fistula were the reasons for re-operation.

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is more complicated in patients who underwent ERCP.