Review of laparoscopic cholecystectomy in Nepal Medical College Teaching Hospital.

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is a commonly performed procedure in general surgical practice. The present study aims to highlight the results of LC in our institute. All LC carried out at our institution was prospectively audited. Data were collected regarding indications for surgery, rate of conversion to open operation, co morbid medical conditions and complication rate. One hundred and forty patients underwent LC from March 2005 to December 2006. There were 104 (74.2%) females and 36 (25.7%) males; age range was 18-75 years with a mean of 41 years. Indications for surgery were repeated attacks of biliary colic in 87 (62.0%), symptomatic dyspepsia in 48 (34.0%) and asymptomatic gall stone in 5 (4.0%) patients. Operating time was 25-120 minutes with a mean of 71.9 minutes. Conversion was performed in 13 (9.2%) patients because of unclear anatomy due to the dense inflammatory adhesions and chronic cholecystitis. Our results of LC are favorable and comparable with those of published series. We conclude that LC has been successfully introduced in our institution.