Laparoscopic cholecystectomy in a patient with mitochondrial myopathy.

The authors report a 27-year-old woman with mitochondrial myopathy and respiratory failure requiring nasal-CPAP administration who successfully underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy for chronic cholecystitis. The hypothesis that minimally invasive surgery results in less operative stress is truly substantiated by the experience with laparoscopy in such patients with high risk of perioperative and postoperative complications.