Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy in the treatment of Acute Cholecystitis: A Comparative Study of Early and Late Cholecystectomy

Abstract

Background:Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is a minimally invasive surgical procedure for removal of a diseased gallbladder. The traditional treatment of acute cholecystitis was conservative followed by cholecystectomy, usually 6 weeks to 8 weeks after discharge, although early cholecystectomy in patients with AC was shown to be safe and effective many years ago.We conducted the present study to compare the outcomes of the patients where we applied early or late cholecystectomy.Materials & methods:Data of a total of 50 patients were enrolled in the present study. All the patients were broadly divided into two study groups as follows: Group A- Early cholecystectomy group:25 patients in which surgery was performed within first 24 hours of hospitalization and Group B- Late cholecystectomy group:25 patients in which surgery was performed after 6 to 8 weeks of hospitalization. Complete data in relation to clinical and radiographic examination was tabulated and analyzed. Intraoperative and postoperative findings were also recorded, analyzed and compared. All the results were evaluated using SPSS software. Results:Mean duration of surgery among patients of group A and group B was 96.3 days and 97.1 days respectively. Mean duration of hospitalization was 4.1 days in group A and 7.3 days in group B. While comparing statistically, it was seen that mean duration of hospitalization was significantly higher in group A in comparison to group B. Non-significant results were obtained while comparing the incidence of postoperative complications in between the two study groups.Conclusion: Early cholecystectomy is better in comparison to late LC in terms of shorter hospital stay. However; further studies are recommended.