Immediate laparoscopic cholecystectomy for acute cholecystitis: no need to wait.

BACKGROUND: Early, within 72 hours, laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) for acute chlolecystitis (AC) is the standard of care. We reviewed our experience with immediate (within 24 hours) LC for AC to determine whether this also was safe.

METHODS: Group 1, those patients who had LC for AC within 24 hours was compared with group 2, those who had LC for AC after 24 hours.

RESULTS: Of 253 consecutive patients, 132 were in group 1 and 121 were in group 2. There were no differences in group 1 versus group 2 in demographics, clinical severity of disease, mean operating time (92 minutes versus 95 minutes, P =.2), conversion (9% versus 6%, P = .3), and complications (7% versus 9%, P = .5). Multivariate logistic regression analysis confirmed that the timing of LC for AC was not associated with longer than average operating times.

CONCLUSIONS: Immediate LC for AC is safe and has become our standard of practice.