Prediction of difficult laparoscopic cholecystectomy for acute cholecystitis

Abstract

Background: No report has described the predictive factor of surgical difficulty for laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) by preoperative computed tomography (CT) findings. This study aimed to investigate whether dynamic CT findings can predict the difficulty of LC for acute cholecystitis.

Materials and methods: Fifty-seven patients who underwent emergency LC and dynamic CT preoperatively were enrolled. Difficult LC (DLC) was defined as any patient with an operative time ≥3 h, bleeding volume ≥300 mL, common bile duct injury, partial cholecystectomy, the need for a second surgeon, and/or conversion to open surgery. Patients were assigned to either the DLC (+) or DLC (-) group. We determined the CT attenuation ratio of the arterial phase (ARAP) to represent the degree of transient focal enhancement of the liver adjacent to the gallbladder. The ARAP cutoff value for a DLC predictor was determined using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Patients' characteristics and CT findings, including the ARAP, were compared between the groups. The Fisher exact test for categorical variables and the Mann-Whitney U test for continuous variables with Bonferroni correction were used to evaluate the significance of differences.

Results: Fifteen patients were assigned to the DLC (+) group. The ARAP was significantly higher in the DLC (+) group than in the DLC (-) group (P = 0.006). The ARAP cutoff value was 1.55. Regarding the CT findings, an ARAP ≥1.55 (P = 0.005) was significantly correlated with DLC.

Conclusions: Among dynamic CT findings, an increased ARAP is a predictive factor for DLC.

Keywords: Acute cholecystitis; Attenuation value ratio; Difficult laparoscopic cholecystectomy; Dynamic computed tomography.