Laparascopic cholecstectomy at Myungsung Christian Medical Center, Ethiopia: a five-years experience.

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is a recent entry in the treatment of gall bladder disease in Ethiopia mainly in private hospitals of the capital city, Addis Ababa, and is slowly gaining acceptance. Like all new techniques, it has generated considerable controversy and debate on its merits over the traditional open operation. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to review our experience of laparoscopic cholecystectomy at Myungsung Christian Medical in, Ethiopia MATERIAL AND METHODS: A hospital based retrospective cross sectional analysis was conducted in Myungsung Christian Medical Center, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Patients' medical records and operation theater registers of 681 patients for whom laparoscopic cholecystectomy were done for symptomatic and complicated cholelithiasis, between January 2005 and December 2009 were analyzed using computer based statistical software SPSS version 11.0. Difference in proportions were examined using Chi-square test with its conventional criterion for statistical significance (p < 0.05). RESULTS: The female to male ratio was 6.6:1 with mean age of 44.4 [Standard Deviation, 0.53] years. Of the six hundred eighty-one patients admitted and planned for laparoscopic cholecystectomy, 661 (97.1%) patients completed the procedure successfully (p < 0.0001) and the procedure was converted to open surgery in 20 (2.9%) for various reasons. Mean duration of operation and hospital stay were 58.9 +/- 18.2 [SD] minutes and 36.9 +/- 10.9 [SD] hours respectively. Postoperative mortality and complication rate were 0.15% and 2.94% respectively. CONCLUSION: LC is safe and effective procedure even in difficult cholelithasis (p < 0.0001), in addition the merit of laparoscopic cholecstectomy include fast recovery, minimal tissue trauma, less postoperative hospital stay (p < 0.0001). Hence, LC could be practiced by general surgeons working in third world countries.