Outpatient laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Four years of experience

Objective: to evaluate the feasibility of an ambulatory laparoscopic cholec ystectomy program, Design: prospective analysis of ambulatory cases, overnight stay percentage , unexpected admission rate, postoperative complications and readmissions. Patients: 271 consecutive patients undergoing elective laparoscopic cholecy stectomy. Results: ambulatory laparoscopic cholecystectomy was completed in 193 out o f 271 patients, reaching a 71.2 percent for the whole series. Ambulatory pa tients increased along with the experience of the team from a 22.9 percent in 1997 to 91.4 per cent in 2000. Sixty four patients (23.6%) had to be hos pitalized overnight, Finally 14 patients had to be admitted (5.2%). The per centage of postoperative complications was 7.7% Conclusions: ambulatory laparoscopic cholecystectomy is a feasible and safe procedure with no increase in morbidity that can be performed in up to 90 per cent of patients.