[Laparoscopic cholecystectomy]

Traditional cholecystectomy has been the standard surgical treatment of the gallstone disease for more than 100 years. The technical development led to a new surgical procedure and its rapid acceptance. This is laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Its application is becoming widespread in therapy too. But most of the surgeons are lack of technical experiences in this field. Currently it restricts the indications those are anyway the same of standard cholecystectomy. Besides its many advantages, laparoscopic cholecystectomy has its own disadvantages and being an invasive procedure, there are possibilities of complications. The latest can be reduced by the adequate choice of patients, the careful learning of the operative technic and by turning to open surgery (conversion) when it is necessary. Its morbidity is nearly equal to complications of standard cholecystectomy, but mortality rate is lower (0.05-0.2%). Our morbidity of performed 300 laparoscopic cholecystectomies was 6.4%. We had no death. The hospitalization became as short as 4 days. Our early clinical results (90%) are the same of traditional cholecystectomy. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy as a new surgical procedure involves the efficiency of the standard cholecystectomy and the noninvasive endoscopic technic. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy performed by well trained surgeons is a safe surgical procedure, its early results are excellent and makes the choice of surgical treatment, used in bile surgery richer.