[Current surgical treatment status of gallstones in East Germany]

The changes of surgical treatment of gallstone disease to the laparoscopic procedure was performed just at the same time in East Germany was destroyed the socialism. That's why the new operative technique was possible in many hospitals in 1992/93 first. To describe the actually situation and the trend we started a prospective multi-institutional study included 29 East German surgical departments of all kinds. The most interesting things were perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis, laparoscopically procedures in elderly or high risc patients, the management of common bile duct stones and the minor and major complications. We discuss the results and the comparison with the results of externe quality assurance.