The Safety of a Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy in Acute Cholecystitis in High Risk Patients Older than Sixty

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To evaluate the safety of a laparoscopic cholecystectomy in acute, or complicated, cholecystitis in patients older than sixty. METHODS: A prospective study was performed, at the Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, on a series of elderly patients (>60 years; n=137) who had undergone a laparoscopic cholecystectomy due to acute, or complicated, cholecystitis between March 1997 and December 2001. We divided the patients into 3 groups; ASA 1 (n=33, 24.1%), ASA 2 (n=79, 57.7%) and ASA 3 (n=25, 18.3%), according to their ASA (American Society of Anesthesiologist) classification. No patient was categorized as either ASA 4, 5 or 6. RESULTS: The mean age of the ASA 3 patients was 71.9+/-6.9 years, which was older than the 65.7+/-6.0 years of the ASA 1 patients (P0.05). One death, due to acute myocardial infarction, occurred in one of the ASA 3 patients. CONCLUSION: A laparoscopic cholecystectomy in acute, or complicated, cholecystitis could be an option in elderly-high risk patients.