[A national registry for cholecystectomy. Quality assurance with practical consequences?]

Altogether 2,120 patients have been enrolled in the Norwegian Cholecystectomy Registry during the first 18 months after it was established. 1,699 patients (80%) were operated on laparoscopically. In 174 (10.2%) the operation was changed to an open procedure. 421 (20%) were operated on primarily using an open technique. The main quality problems were mortality (1.2%) and injuries of the common bile duct (0.95%) associated with open cholecystectomy. These frequencies are far above the values stated in available literature, and two interpretations are possible: Only the best results tend to be published internationally, and our results may be representative for the national average frequencies of serious complications in other countries too. On the other hand, the present results may disclose inadequate quality insufficiency and a need for improvement. The possible actions seem to be: Firstly, to try harder to avoid open cholecystectomy in seriously ill patients (ASA 3-4). If possible, they should not be operated on at all. When surgery is essential, a laparoscopic technique seems to cause less cardiopulmonary complications. Secondly, an improved dissection technique in open (and laparoscopic) surgery is necessary in order to reduce the frequency of injuries of the common bile duct.