title: What necessitates the conversion to open cholecystectomy? A retrospective analysis of 5164 consecutive laparoscopic operations.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) has become the gold standard for the surgical treatment of gallbladder disease, but conversion to open cholecystectomy is still inevitable in certain cases. Knowledge of the rate and impact of the underlying reasons for conversion could help surgeons during preoperative assessment and improve the informed consent of patients. We decided to review the rate and causes of conversion from laparoscopic to open cholecystectomy.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study included all laparoscopic cholecystectomies due to gallstone disease undertaken from May 1999 to June 2010. The exclusion criteria were malignancy and/or existence of gallbladder polyps detected pathologically. Patient demographics, indications for cholecystectomy, concomitant diseases, and histories of previous abdominal surgery were collected. The rate of conversion to open cholecystectomy, the underlying reasons for conversion, and postoperative complications were also analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 5382 patients for whom LC was attempted, 5164 were included this study. The overall rate of conversion to open cholecystectomy was 3.16% (163 patients). There were 84 male and 79 female patients; the mean age was 52.04 years (range: 26-85). The conversion rates in male and female patients were 5.6% and 2.2%, respectively (p < 0.001). The most common reasons for conversion were severe adhesions caused by tissue inflammation (97 patients) and fibrosis of Calot's triangle (12 patients). The overall postoperative morbidity rate was found to be 16.3% in patients who were converted to open surgery.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Male gender was found to be the only statistically significant risk factor for conversion in our series. LC can be safely performed with a conversion rate of less than 5% in all patient groups.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Volkan
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Genc
authors.forename: Marlen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sulaimanov
authors.forename: Gokhan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cipe
authors.forename: Salim Ilksen
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Basceken
authors.forename: Nezih
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Erverdi
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gurel
authors.forename: Nusret
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Aras
authors.forename: Selcuk M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Hazinedaroglu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002763:Cholecystectomy / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017081:Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D041881:Cholecystitis, Acute / Q000601:surgery*; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome