Safety and effectiveness of outpatient laparoscopic cholecystectomy in a teaching hospital: a prospective study of 110 consecutive patients

110 consecutive patients, predominantly female (71%) and ASA I (89%) with a mean age 40.6 ± 8.1 years underwent an OLC. Surgery was performed by a HST in 90 patients (81.8%). A mean postoperative pain score 3.3 (range 0-6) occurred in the majority of patients and no patient presented postoperative nausea or vomiting. Discharge on the day of surgery occurred in 95 cases (86%), while an overnight admission was required for 15 patients (14%). Re-admission following hospital discharge was necessary for 2 patients (1.8%) on day 2, due to persistent pain in the umbilical trocar site. The overall rate of major (trocar site bleeding) and minor morbidity was 15.5% (17 patients). At 1 week follow-up, 94 patients (85%) were satisfied with their experience undergoing OLC, with no difference between grades of operating surgeons.This study confirmed that OLC is clinical effective and can be performed safely in a teaching hospital by supervised HSTs.Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) has become in recent years the standard approach for managing symptomatic cholelithiasis and is thus accepted as the "gold standard" surgical technique [1,2]. With improvements in anesthesia and perioperative care LC was attempted as an outpatient cost-effective procedure, despite several concerns about patient safety which initially halted its worldwide acceptance [3-8].Besides clinical effectiveness and cost saving, LC is associated with several complications, such as bleeding and bile duct injuries, which can occur in open cholecystectomy as well, are usually detected intraoperatively and lengthen hospital stay [3,9]. Similarly, postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) as well as pain are regarded as key factors influencing same day discharge and several methods have been implicated to reduce both of them [10-14].In Greece, outpatient cholecystectomy is gradually gaining acceptance from surgeons and patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcome of outpatient LC (OLC) in a teaching univ