title: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy: the Finnish experience.
abstract: Between January 1992 and December 1994, 5,742 patients were treated by laparoscopic cholecystectomy in 35 Finnish hospitals. The operation was converted to open laparotomy in 360 (6.3%) patients, the most common causes for conversion being technical difficulties in dissection of the gall bladder (2.8%), bleeding (0.9%) and bile duct injury (0.48%). Intraoperative cholangiography was performed selectively in 18%, and common bile duct stones were found in 10.2% of these cases. Postoperative complications occurred in 208 (3.6%) patients, of whom 65 (1.1%) required reoperation. Twenty-eight (0.48%) of these patients had common bile duct injury. In eighteen patients bilio-digestive Roux-en-Y reconstruction was performed, whereas 10 cases could be handled by endoscopic drainage or suturing and T-tube drainage. Thus, the total number of patients with bile duct injury was 56 (0.96%). The reported hospital mortality was 0.08%. The mean hospital stay and the mean sick leave were three days (range 1-41) and 13 days (range 1-60), respectively. These data demonstrate that laparoscopic cholecystectomy can be performed with acceptable morbidity and mortality rates as a routine method in various different hospitals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Turku University Central Hospital, Finland.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ovaska
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Airo
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Haglund
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kivilaakso
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kiviluoto
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Palm
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pääkkönen
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ristkari
authors.forename: K V
authors.initials: KV
authors.lastname: Smitten
mesh_terms: D000041:Absenteeism; D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D017081:Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods; D002764:Cholecystitis / Q000601:surgery*; D002769:Cholelithiasis / Q000601:surgery*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012042:Registries; D012086:Reoperation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires