Effective Port Placement for Left Sided Gallbladder Cholecystectomy

Left sided gallbladder (sinistroposition) is a well described congenital abnormality that can pose an unexpected challenge for the surgeon, especially regarding port placement for safe and effective dissection.

In this case, a 36 -year-old woman with biliary colic was taken to the operating room for elective cholecystectomy and found, after port placement, to have sinistroposition of the gallbladder. The operation was completed with relative ease using our typical port placement of a 5 mm port at Palmer's point, a 12 mm port at the umbilicus; and two additional 5 mm ports, one in the right midclavicular line, and one in the right anterior axillary line.

Multiple port placements for safe and effective dissection of a left sided gallbladder have been discussed. Identification of sinistropic gallbladder often occurs after ports are already placed in position for right sided cholecystectomy. In this case, our typical port placement where the operating surgeon's right-hand port is located at Palmer's point provided excellent positioning for dissection. No alterations to the surgeon's left-hand port or the assistant port were necessary. The dissection was able to be completed from familiar angles, so dissection and identification of anatomy was performed with relative ease. This is important as sinistroposition can at times lead to abnormalities of the biliary tree, though none were noted in this case.