Post cholecystectomy admission to the intensive care unit. Comparison between open, mini-lap and laparoscopic...

Admissions to the intensive care unit following techniques for cholecystectomy, the open, mini-lap and laparoscopic methods, were studied over an 18-month period. Of 1078 cases of operative cholecystectomy performed during that period, 28 cases (2.6%) from all groups were admitted to the intensive care unit. Cases in the open and mini-lap cholecystectomy groups were admitted for postoperative monitoring because of pre-existing medical diseases and were discharged after an average period of stay of 2.4 and 4.7 days respectively. In contrast, the average stay of patients in the laparoscopic group was 14.8 days and the majority were admitted as a result of complications related to the procedure. In this group, one patient died on the first day of admission to the unit (mortality of 8.3%). This study has shown that laparoscopic surgery, from the intensive care point of view, is a very costly surgical procedure.