Between January 1992 and December 1994, 5,742 patients were treated by
laparoscopic cholecystectomy in 35 Finnish hospitals. The operation w
as converted to open laparotomy in 360 (6.3 %) patients, the most comm
on causes for conversion being technical difficulties in dissection of
the gall bladder (2.8 %), bleeding (0.9 %) and bile duct injury (0.48
%). Intraoperative cholangiography was performed selectively in 18 %,
and common bile duct stones were found in 10.2 % of these cases. Post
operative complications occurred in 208 (3.6 %) patiens, of whom 65 (1
.1 %) required reoperation. Twenty-eight (0.48 %) of these patients ha
d common bile duct injury. In eighteen patients bilio-digestive Roux-e
n-Y reconstruction was performed, whereas 10 cases could be handled by
endoscopic drainage or suturing and T-tube drainage. Thus, the total
number of patients with bile duct injury was 56 (0.96 %). The reported
hospital mortality was 0.08 %. The mean hospital stay and the mean si
ck leave were three days (range 1-41) and 13 days (range 1-60), respec
tively. These data demonstrate that laparoscopic cholecystectomy can b
e performed with acceptable morbidity and mortality rates as a routine
method in various different hospitals.