title: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy in a single, non-teaching hospital: an analysis of 1557 patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Laparoscopic cholecystectomy may lead to serious complications, although it is the gold standard treatment for gallstones. In this article, the aim was to review our experience with laparoscopic cholecystectomies.
  
  
  METHODS
  All laparoscopic cholecystectomies were performed in a single, non-teaching hospital between January 2000 and October 2010 and were reviewed retrospectively to analyze the effect of preoperative risk factors on outcome and the associated major complications.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This study included 1557 laparoscopic cholecystectomies, and the mean age of the patients was 54.1±12.3 years. The mean duration of the operation and the mean length of stay were 43.4 minutes and 1.2 days, respectively. Conversion to an open cholecystectomy was necessary in 39 patients, and thus the conversion rate was 2.5%. In total, 57 (3.7%) complications occurred in 51 patients. Serious common bile duct injury was seen in 4 (0.27%) cases. The other common complications included bile leakage in 10 (0.64%) and postoperative bleeding in 7 (0.45%) patients. The mortality rate was 0.13%. Risk factors for conversion to open surgery were male gender, age >55 years, emergency admission due to acute cholecystitis, and a history of previous acute cholecystitis attacks. Factors that increased the morbidity rate were male gender, an American Society of Anesthesiologists score of III, emergency admission due to acute cholecystitis, and a history of previous acute cholecystitis attacks.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results may serve as a baseline for comparison with future studies done at single, non-teaching hospitals where surgical teams perform laparoscopic cholecystectomies over a long period of time.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Umraniye Education and Research Hospital, Umraniye, Istanbul, Turkey. hasbahceci@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hasbahceci
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Uludag
authors.forename: Cengiz
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Erol
authors.forename: Arif
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ozdemir
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002760:Cholangiopancreatography, Endoscopic Retrograde; D017081:Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic / Q000401:mortality; D002769:Cholelithiasis / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D061887:Conversion to Open Surgery / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology