Laparoscopic cholecystectomy in day surgery: feasibility and outcomes of the first 400 patients

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and safety of performing laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) in a day surgery setting in Italy.

Material and methods: Between March 2003 and June 2011, in our institution 439 patients were selected for day surgery LC. To evaluate the efficacy and safety of the procedure, postoperative complications, pain, nausea and vomiting were monitored at 4, 8, and 24 h after surgery. Patients admitted for an overnight stay or readmitted after discharging were also monitored.

Results: Over 8 years we performed 400 LC in day surgery setting and no conversion or major intraoperative complication were detected. A total of 387 patients (96.7%) were successfully discharged after 8-10 h of observation. Postoperative monitoring showed good pain control (mean VAS score 1.5) and only 3 (0.7%) of the 7 patients who experienced major pain were admitted. Twenty-seven patients (6.7%) experienced PONV and 9 (2.2%) of these required admission. None of the patients needed to be readmitted after discharging. The satisfaction questionnaire administered at 1 month office visit showed that 380 patients (95%) were satisfied with day surgery LC.

Conclusions: Our success rate of 96.7% can be attributed to strict adherence to the patient selection criteria. The main reasons for hospital admission were pain and PONV; adequate control of these represents the key of success for day surgery LC. This study confirms the feasibility and safety of LC performed in day surgery setting.