Laparoscopic cholecystectomy: treatment of choice for cholelithiasis in children.
Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is rapidly replacing traditional cholecystectomy as the standard treatment for cholelithiasis and cholecystitis in adults. Over a period of 16 months, 14 children with a clinical diagnosis of cholelithiasis, ranging in age from 4 to 15 years (mean 12.2), were treated. All had symptoms of abdominal pain or vomiting; one had jaundice and recurrent cholecystitis. Five children (35%) had associated metabolic or hemolytic diseases. The 14 children were operated on using the laparoscopic cholecystectomy technique. No operation was converted to open cholecystectomy, but two patients required laparotomy: one because of suspected injury to the common duct, and the other because of nonvisualization of the gallbladder during laparoscopy. The mean post-operative hospital stay for the 11 children who underwent only laparoscopic cholecystectomy (one patient also had a simple mastectomy) was 50 hours (range 48-72 hours). All children resumed their normal activities almost immediately after discharge from hospital. No long-term biliary or other complications were seen in any patient throughout an average follow-up period of 6.2 months (range 3-16 months). The benefits of this operation in children are obvious: It is safe, effective, and well tolerated.
Department of Pediatric Surgery, Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, Zerifin, Israel.
I
I
Vinograd
A
A
Halevy
B
B
Klin
M
M
Negri
Y
Y
Bujanover
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017081:Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic / Q000379:methods; D002769:Cholelithiasis / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male