The "Off-Hour Effect" in Urgent Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy for Acute Cholecystitis.

BACKGROUND

The observation that patients may have worse outcomes after urgent therapeutic interventions performed during off-hours compared with on-hours is termed the "off-hour effect." This phenomenon has not been examined in urgent laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). Here we aimed to investigate the off-hour effect in urgent LC for acute cholecystitis.

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

This study enrolled patients who underwent urgent LC for acute cholecystitis at our institution. On-hour LC was defined as a weekday operation starting between 9 AM and 9 PM; and off-hour LC as an operation on a weekend, or starting between 9 PM and 9 AM on a weekday. Patients were divided into on-hour and off-hour groups, and the operative outcomes of LC were compared between these groups.

RESULTS

The study included 371 patients, with 270 (72.8%) on-hour, and 101 (27.2%) off-hour operations. The 2 groups did not significantly differ in operation time, intraoperative blood loss, conversion rate to open surgery, incidence of postoperative complications, or duration of postoperative hospital stay.

DISCUSSION: Operative outcomes of urgent LC were comparable between the on-hour and off-hour groups, suggesting that there was no significant off-hour effect in urgent LC.