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.