Potential risk factors for postoperative complications and deaths after laparoscopic cholecystectomy in the elderly

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is performed for gallbladder stones and cholecystitis in a large number of elderly patients. However, the safety of LC in the elderly is questioned. The aim of this study was to investigate predictive factors for the incidence of postoperative complications and deaths after LC in patients aged 80 years and older. Data from 85 elderly patients who underwent LC between January 2005 and December 2015 were prospectively collected in a database at our hospital. The following factors were compared for the occurrence of postoperative complications and deaths:age, gender, Body Mass Index, laboratory date, severity grade of cholecystitis, comorbidity of choledocholithiasis, conversion to open cholecystectomy, early or delayed LC, amount of time from onset to LC, operative duration, blood loss, and the following scoring systems for predicting risk of surgery:ECOG-PS, ASA, SIRS, CONUT, POSSUM, SAS, E-PASS. The complication rate of LC was 14.1% in this cohort. WBC, CRP, BUN, Cre, Na, PT-INR, severity of cholecystitis, conversion to open cholecystectomy, operative duration, early LC, ASA, SIRS, CONUT, POSSUM (PS, OS, complication rate), SAS, E-PASS (PRS, SSS, CRS) showed significant variability in univariate analysis. A high POSSUM score of complication and moderate or severe cholecystitis were independent risk factors for postoperative complication. Analysis of the ROC showed that the best cut-off point for the POSSUM score of complication was 51.5. LC for gallbladder stones and cholecystitis in elderly is a reliable operation, but the procedure for cases with a high score of the POSSUM for complications, or moderate or severe cholecystitis, may have the risk of postoperative complications in elderly patients.