A comparative study of the incidence of pain and infection in gall bladder extraction via umbilical and epigastric port

Abstract

Background: In laparoscopic cholecystectomy, gall bladder extraction via different ports has always been a matter of concern for the surgeons. This study is designed so as to determine the difference in the rate of pain and infection in gall bladder extraction via umbilical and epigastric port.Methods: A prospective randomized study was done from January 2015 to December 2015 at S. N. Medical College, Agra in which 200 patients of cholelithiasis were considered. The patients were randomly selected in the operation theatre for gall bladder extraction via epigastric port (designated as Group-A with n = 100 patients) and gall bladder extraction via umbilical port (designated as Group-B with n = 100 patients).Results: Post-operative pain at 24 hours, in terms of VAS was 3.67±1.42 in Group-A while 2.47±1.17 in Group-B with 10 being the worst pain. The p-value was calculated as .000048. The result is significant at p< .05. A total of eight patients out of two hundred patients suffered port site infections amongst which five were from Group-A (5%) and three were from Group-B (3%).Conclusions: This study thus indicates that in laparoscopic cholecystectomy, gall bladder retrieval through the umbilical port is a better alternative to gall bladder extraction via epigastric port in terms of post-operative pain and port site infection. Our study recommends gall bladder extraction via umbilical port rather than epigastric port.