We performed laparoscopic cholecystectomy on 183 patients from August 1991 to December 1994. These patients, 66 men and 117 women, had a mean age of 51.4 years (range : 21-81). One hundred seventy-seven patients (96.7 %) had successful comple- tion of the laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Six patients (3.3 %) required conversion to open cholecystectomy because of bile duct injury in three patients,
... [Show full abstract] vascular injury of the mesenterium in one patients, massive subcutaneous emphysema in one patient and a lot of gallstones falling into the peritoneal cavity in one patient. All perioperative complications were not fatal. The mean postoperative hospital stay of patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy was 7.3 days. It was significantly shorter than the 19.5 days of the 39 patients undergoing open cholecystectomy in the same period. Laparoscopic cholecys- tectomy is an effective procedure, improving the quality of life of the patients. With the improvement and spread of endoscopic surgery, indications for that are expected to increase in the future. But it is important to discuss fully and be circumspect in extending the indications.