Background: Even though laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) has become the customary method for treating gallstones, some incidents and complications appear rather more frequently than with the open technique. Several aspects of these complications and their treatment possibilities are analysed.
Materials and methods: Over the last 9 years 9542 laparoscopic cholecystectomies have been performed, of which 13.9% were carried out for acute cholecystitis, 38.4% in obese patients and 7.6% in patients aged > 65 years.
Results: The main postoperative complications were bile leakage and choleperitoneum (54 cases), haemorrhage (15 cases), subhepatic abscess (10 cases) and retained bile duct stones (11 cases). Classic re-interventions were practiced in 28.8% of cases with complications. Mini-invasive techniques were used in 42.2% of cases with complications: laparoscopic re-interventions (15 cases) for choleperitoneum, haemoperitoneum and subhepatic abscess and endoscopic sphincterotomy (22 cases) for prolonged bile leak on subhepatic drain and for early diagnosed remnant lithiasis of the common bile duct. All cases healed. Another 26 patients were treated conservatively.
Discussion: With a precise diagnosis and a good indication, the mini-invasive treatment of complications was completed with good results. 16 laparoscopic re-operations and 22 endoscopic sphyncterotomies were performed (for the treatment of bile leakage and remnant gallbladder stones).