title: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy in acute cholecystitis in the elderly.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Benefits of using laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) in the elderly with acute cholecystitis (AC) is still questionable. Our aim is to carry out a comparative analysis of that intervention in two groups of patients: under 65 years old, and over or equal to 65 years old.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study corresponds to 249 LCs carried out during 4 years at the Emergency and Surgery Department of Hospital de S. João; 2 groups of individuals were considered: group A--under 65 years old, and group B--65 years old or over. The first consisted of 168 cases (88 men and 80 women, mean age 48.34 years (+/- 11.80)); and the second included 81 patients (40 men and 41 women, mean age 75.73 years (+/- 6.87)). The diagnosis was made on the basis of clinical symptoms, leukocytosis and ultrasound.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The comparative analysis between these two groups provided the following results: 1) Mortality: 0% in A vs. 4.76% in B (P = 0.007); 2) Overall postoperative complications: 5.36% in A vs. 22.2% in B (P < 0.001); 3) Surgical complications: 4.76% in A vs. 14.8% in B (P = 0.468); 4) Intraoperative complications: 4.76% in A vs. 4.94% in B (P = 0.007); 5) Reoperations: 2.98% in A vs. 7.41% in B (P = 0.022); 6) Conversion: 12.50% in A vs. 17.28% in B (P = 0.447); 7) Lesion of the Main Bile Duct: 1.79% in A vs. 2.47% in B (P = 0.447); 8) Hospital Stay, equal to or less than 4 days: 72.62% in A vs. 27.16% in B (P <0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  LC is a safe and efficient intervention in the treatment of acute cholecystitis in the elderly, although with greater morbidity and longer hospital stay, when compared with younger patients.
authors.forename: João Paulo Araújo
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Teixeira
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pinho
authors.forename: Luís
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Graça
authors.forename: Luís M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Moreira
authors.forename: Jose Costa
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Maia
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017081:Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic; D041881:Cholecystitis, Acute / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000401:mortality; D016896:Treatment Outcome