A Comparison Between Laparoscopic and Open Cholecystectomy in Patients with Acute Cholecystitis

Background: The health consequences of gallstones are found to be severe in the present day. As a treatment for gallstones, open cholecystectomy was the gold standard until the end of the 1980s. Surgery has been revolutionized with laparoscopy, leading to a re-evaluation of various treatment modalities, including cholecystectomy, although it also has its drawbacks. This study was conducted to evaluate if laparoscopic cholecystectomy can be recommended over open cholecystectomy as the preferred approach for the treatment of Acute Cholecystitis. Method: A total of 25 patients were included in this study who were admitted to the surgical wards of a tertiary medical facility in India between November 2020 and October 2022. All the subjects were categorized into two groups, Group I (Laparoscopic cholecystectomy, n=14) and Group II (Open cholecystectomy, n=11). The main outcomes that were evaluated were pre- and post-operative complications, length of hospital stay, wound infection and return to work. Statistics were used to analyze the collected data. Results: The length of the surgery has been significantly longer in Group I (81.0714 13.18) than in Group II (91.363 10.26 minutes) when the two groups had been compared (p = 0.0442 [S]). Laparoscopic cholecystectomy had more positive results than open cholecystectomy in contexts of postoperative pain (VAS > 4), length of hospital stays, and return to work, and the difference was statistically significant. Wound infection 5 (45.45%) and post-operative paralytic ileus3 (27.27%) were significantly higher in patients who underwent open cholecystectomy. There were no reported significant cases of morbidity or mortality during the study period. Conclusion: As compared to open cholecystectomy, laparoscopic cholecystectomy has significant advantages including reduced paralytic ileus, less analgesic use, shorter surgery time, fewer postoperative complications and early discharge and mobilization.