[Quality of life of patients who underwent a bile duct reconstruction]

Bile duct reconstruction (BDR) secondary to bile duct injury during cholecystectomy (BDIC) is a complex surgery, and an important issue is the quality of life (QL) after the procedure.

To compare the QL of a cohort of patients who underwent BDR due to BDIC with a cohort of patients who underwent a cholecystectomy without incidents.

The cohort was composed of 32 patients aged 47 ± 18 years (78% women) who underwent BDR due to BDIC. For purposes of comparison, a cohort of patients who underwent a cholecystectomy without incident was chosen. These cohorts were paired 1:1 by age (± 1 year), gender and type of surgery. The SF-36 quality of life survey was applied in person or by telephone. The score was calculated as proposed by the RAND group.

The cohort of BDR patients was comprised of 32 patients, with an average age of 47 ± 17.6 years, with a predominance of women (78%). The mean number of hospitalization days among BDR patients was 20 ± 11.8. The average follow-up was 7 ± 5 years. The mean score of patients undergoing RVB or cholecystectomy without complications was evaluated, without finding differences in the score of the different domains of the SF-36 scale.

In the present study no significant differences were found in QL between the patients with BDIC who underwent BDR and patients who underwent a cholecystectomy without complications.