Outcomes of laparoscopic cholecystectomy in elderly patients

Abstract

Background Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is the conventional therapy for both symptomatic gallbladder stones and acute cholecystitis; nevertheless, these outcomes are representative of the overall population. Our study’s objective was to evaluate the efficacy of LC in individuals aged 60 and older. Methods This prospective research was performed on 200 elderly cases aged 60 or older who underwent LC. Cases were classified into two groups regarding the age, group (A): Cases aged greater than or equal to 70 years and group (B) Cases aged 60 −less than or equal to 69 years. Group (A) were subdivided into three groups: age from 70 to 72 years (group A1), age from 73 to 76 (group A2), and age from 77 to 80 (group A3) were the additional age categories created from the original group of patients. Results American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) score increased with age in both groups. In group B, 15.5% had ASA scores greater than or equal to 3, and increased to 37.5% in group A1, 68.8% in group A2 and 80.0% in group A3. ASA classification was significantly different between both groups (P<0.001). Acute cholecystitis was found in 8 (17.8%) patients in group A and 24 (15.48%) patients in group B whereas chronic cholecystitis was found in 37 (82.2%) patients in group A and 131 (84.5%) patients in group B, with no significant difference between both groups (P=0.890). The majority of surgically treated patients in all research groups were diagnosed with chronic cholecystitis. Conclusion LC in elderly patients is applicable with low mortality and morbidity rates. Despite the common prevalence of concurrent disorders involving the lung, heart, and diabetes mellitus (DM) in geriatric patients treated with LC, these medical conditions contributed slightly to the morbidity findings.