A prospective study of bile leaks after laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Since laparoscopic cholecystectomy rapidly became the cold standard, there is an increased morbidity of 1% to 3% for clinically significant bile leaks with this procedure, as compared with open cholecystectomy (<1%). The iden tification of subclinical bile leaks using cholescintigraphy occurs in the range from 31.4% to 40% after elective open cholecystectomy. At this writin g, no studies exist that document the rate of subclinical bile leaks after elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy. In this study, 71 patients were eval uated using cholescintigraphy after elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy. This study represents the first prospective took at the rate of subclinical bile leaks after laparoscopic cholecystectomy in elective cases, and the f indings show an overall incidence of 7.3%, as compared with historical repo rts of 30% to 44% for open cholecystectomy.