title: The clinical application of the hard gallbladder endoscope combined with soft choledochoscope in the surgery of laparoscopic microscopic trauma for the removal of calculi and preservation of gallbladder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To explore the value of minimally invasive surgery for the removal of calculus and preservation of the gallbladder with the combination of a hard gallbladder endoscope and a soft choledochoscope.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective analysis was conducted of the clinical data of 42 patients with cholecystolithiasis who underwent minimally invasive surgery for the removal of calculus and preservation of the gallbladder from April 2009 to April 2011.
  
  
  RESULTS
  None of the 42 cases had bile flowing from the gallbladder neck tube to the gallbladder lumen after removal of stones in the gallbladder lumen by the hard gallbladder endoscope; all the 42 cases had residual stones in the gallbladder tube when probed by the soft choledochoscope. The numbers of stones range from one to three, while the diameters of the stones range from 0.5 cm to 1.0 cm. In 8 cases, there was one calculus embedded. In 39 cases, the calculi were taken out through the soft choledochoscope, and the gallbladders were preserved successfully; yet the other 3 cases failed to receive surgery to preserve the gallbladder because of calculi embedded in the gallbladder tube, which were finally treated by laparoscopic cholecystectomy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A hard gallbladder endoscope combined with a soft choledochoscope for removing calculi and preserving the gallbladder in laparoscopic microscopic trauma surgery can effectively find residual stones in the gallbladder tube and help to increase the rate of complete removal of calculi and preserving the gallbladder.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Suzhou University, Jiangsu, Suzhou, China. shaohuawei2010@sina.com
authors.forename: Shaohua
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wei
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019723:Endoscopes; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D042882:Gallstones / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult