HEMOBILIA AS A COMPLICATION OF LAPAROSCOPIC CHOLECYSTECTOMY

Laparoscopic surgery, mainly laparoscopic cholecystectomy, is a recent ly developed surgical procedure that has rapidly gained acceptance. It s complications remain to be critically analyzed. In this initial seri es of 69 patients, the rate of complications was 4.3%, and the convers ion to open rate was 8.7%. A tate complication occurring 4 months afte r surgery is presented. Upper gastrointestinal bleeding from hemobilia resulted from a cystic artery aneurism communicating with the cystic duct. This study stresses the importance of careful management of bili ary structures to avoid the possibility of late and severe complicatio ns that can result from using this new surgical procedure.