Laparoscopic cholecystectomy for acute cholecystitis

Thirty-five patients with acute cholecystitis were operated on in a period of 17 months at Bayindir Medical Center. Open cholecystectomy (OC) was performed in 12 patients, and laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) was attempted in 23 of the patients. LC was successfully completed in 20 patients (conversion rate 13%). LC and OC groups were compared according to the sex, age, operative time, postoperative hospital stay, and gallbladder wall thickness. The differences in the mean operative time and mean days of postoperative hospital stay between the two groups were significant (p < 0.01). There were three (15%) and two (13.3%) postoperative complications in the LC and OC groups, respectively. In acute cholecystitis, LC increases the operative time but decreases the hospital stay compared with OC. LC does not increase the intraoperative and postoperative complication rates.