Routine outpatient laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

OBJECTIVE

To determine what proportion of patients booked for elective cholecystectomy can be treated on an outpatient basis and what criteria will predict the need for hospital admission.

DESIGN

A prospective analysis.

SETTING

A 306-bed, nonteaching, acute-care community hospital on the outskirts of a major urban centre.

PATIENTS: One hundred consecutive patients in private referral practice scheduled for outpatient laparoscopic surgery between November 1992 and January 1994.

INTERVENTION: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The proportion of patients who successfully avoided hospital admission, the degree of discomfort, complications and the objective criteria that assist in predicting the need for initial or eventual hospital admission.

RESULTS

Outpatient cholecystectomy was successful in 87% of the patients, and patient acceptance of the procedure was good. Advanced age, major associated health problems, acute cholecystitis and longer operations were the criteria most likely to lead to hospital admission, although none of these factors, alone or in combination, was a contraindication to outpatient cholecystectomy.

CONCLUSIONS

Outpatient laparoscopic cholecystectomy can be performed successfully in most patients. There are four criteria that increase the likelihood of hospital admission after this procedure.