Symptomatic outcome after laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

AIMS: Patients with gallstones often present with multiple complaints. We wanted to study the major complaints of our patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy and the symptomatic relief afforded by the operation. METHODS: We studied 113 patients with symptomatic gallstone disease who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy in a single surgical unit. Patients with proven common bile duct stones, obstructive jaundice, cholangitis, present or past associated abdominal pathology or cholecystoenteric fistula were excluded from the study. The mean follow up period was 18 months (range 10-22 months). A detailed account of the symptoms of gallstones, length of post-operative stay, persistence of symptoms, development of fresh symptoms and resumption of fat containing diet were assessed. RESULTS: The male to female ratio was 1:4. Common presenting symptoms were abdominal pain (96%), flatulence or feeling of fullness of abdomen (85%), heartburn (66%), belching (62%), sour eructation (52%), vomiting (48%) and nausea (45%). Mean postoperative hospital stay was 28 hours (range 9-68 hours). Biliary pain was relieved in 99% of patients after laparoscopic cholecystectomy (p < 0.001). The non-pain symptoms which are relieved significantly (p < 0.001) included nausea (98%), vomiting (96%) and sour eructation (92%) had better outcome than belching (64%) flatulence (61%) and heart burn (59%). None of the patients developed jaundice after cholecystectomy. Fresh symptoms that developed after laparoscopic cholecystectomy were heart-burn (6%), belching (3.5%), sour eructation (1%) and vomiting (0.5%). Post-cholecystectomy post-prandial diarrhoea occurred in 20% of the patients. The patients' appreciation of a satisfactory cosmetic result of operation scars was 100 percent. Fifteen female patients (13.5%) complained of increased weight gain of more than 5 kg after laparoscopic cholecystectomy [(p > 0.05; not significant (NS)]. CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy significantly relieved symptoms of gall stone disease. Biliary pain, nausea, vomiting and sour eructations had better outcome compared to belching, flatulence and heartburn, which are also relieved in majority. Postcholecystectomy post-prandial diarrhea was a significant new symptom after cholecystectomy. Pre-operative flatulence and heartburn are risk factors for poor symptom relief. All patients should be pre operatively counselled about the risk of persistence of some non-pain symptoms after laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Influence of intraperitoneal drainage after cholecystectomy; a prospective ultrasonographic study.

One hundred and fifty patients were prospectively randomised into 3 groups (50 in each group); to receive a passive drain, closed suction drain or no drain after elective cholecystectomy. The drain was removed within 24 hours in 84% of patients and was continued longer only if the amount of drainage was excessive or bilious. On the 3rd post-operative day, an ultrasound examination was performed in all patients for detection of subhepatic/subphrenic collection. Collections were more frequently encountered in the patients without any drain (42%) followed by passive drain (26%) and suction drain group (20%). Chest complications were frequently noted (passive drain; 6% suction drain, 12%, and no drain, 8%), however, occurrence of this complication in various groups was similar (p > 0.1). Two patients (4%) without drain required ultrasound guided aspiration of subhepatic collection. Mean post-operative hospital stay was nearly equal for all the groups (passive drain: 4.22 +/- 1 days, suction drain: 4.26 +/- 1.4 days and no drain: 4.62 +/- 2.3 days). Drainage reduced the incidence of post-cholecystectomy collections and need for invasive intervention for collection related complications. However, the type of drainage (active or passive) did not influence the incidence of collection, frequency of complications and duration of post-operative hospital stay.