Cholecystectomy during laparoscopic gastric bypass has no effect on duration of hospital stay.

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy can be safely performed at the time of laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGBP). This study was primarily conducted to examine whether there is any difference in the length of hospital stay and duration of operation in patients who undergo concomitant cholecystectomy with their LRYGBP. In addition, the frequency and nature of complications in the two groups were compared.

METHODS: Retrospective chart analysis and comparison of 200 patients who underwent LRYGBP alone with 200 patients who underwent LRYGBP with simultaneous cholecystectomy.

RESULTS: Concomitant cholecystectomy did not increase length of hospital stay (2.04 +/- 0.20 days vs 2.06 +/- 0.29 days in the LRYGBP alone group, P = 0.43). Furthermore, the addition of cholecystectomy only added an extra 29 minutes to the operation (P < 0.01). In both groups, there was no difference in the rate of postoperative complications (8.5% in both groups, P = 0.21), the nature of which was more or less equally distributed amongst the two groups.

CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy performed at the time of LRYGBP does not alter length of hospital stay or frequency of postoperative complications and only adds an extra half hour to total operation time.