Purpose
Bile duct injury (BDI) represents the most serious complication of laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). The aim of this retrospective single-institution study was to evaluate the real incidence of BDI during laparoscopic and open cholecystectomy (OC) in a tertiary academic center in Athens, Greece.
Methods
Between January 1991 and December 2001, 3 637 patients underwent cholecystectomy in our department; as LC in 2 079 patients (LC group) and as OC in 1 558 patients (OC group). All the LCs were performed or supervised by five staff surgeons and all the OCs were performed or supervised by another five staff surgeons.
Results
There were 13 BDIs associated with LC (0.62%) and 6 associated with OC (0.38%) (P = 0.317). There was one death associated with BDI after LC. Only two (15.4%) of the BDIs associated with LC occurred within the proposed learning curve limit of 50 LCs per individual surgeon.
Conclusion
Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is safe and is not associated with a higher incidence of BDI than OC. Moreover, we did not find that the learning curve for LC affected BDI occurrence.