P-BN28 The Consistency of Operative Safety Markers and the Critical View of Safety During Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Abstract Background Safe laparoscopic cholecystectomy(LC) depends on surgeon's experience, operative difficulty, utilisation of traditional safety markers, adapting the dissection technique and, where possible, displaying the critical view of safety (CVS) to confirm cystic pedicle structures prior to division. The Safe Cholecystectomy Multi-Society Practice Guidelines and State of the Art Consensus Conference on Prevention of Bile Duct Injury During Cholecystectomy identified no direct comparative evidence to support the CVS over other methods of anatomic identification. The aim of this study, therefore, was to examine the consistency of safety markers guiding the dissection and to determine the value of displaying the CVS. Methods A pilot study was conducted, reviewing video recordings of 241 LCs (144 retrospective and 97 prospective). The consistency of the Rouvier Sulcus (RS), the cystic lymph node (CLN), identification of the common bile duct (CBD) and duodenum and a new marker; the “cystic duct fold” (CDF), the peritoneal fold stretching between the retracted Hartman's Pouch and the CBD guiding the dissection at its distal end over the gallbladder neck, was documented. Data on the safety marker used to commence dissection, gallbladder condition, the LC difficulty grade, the selected technique and whether the CVS was achieved was recorded and analysed. Results Although the CBD and duodenum were visualised in 77%, the CDF was identifiable in 56% (CLN in 52.3%, RS in 50.2%) and the most consistently used to commence dissection in 51.4% (CLN 17.4%, CBD in 11.6% and RS in 6.6%). 12.8% required access to the infundibulum using sub-serosal or trans-vesical dissection (41% had acute cholecystitis, empyema or gangrenous gallbladders). Infundibular dissection was used in 88%. CVS was achievable in 56.8%. The CDF dropped form 87% in difficulty grades 1 and 2 to 16.5% in grades 4 and 5 with the CLN used in 21% of these difficult LCs. Conclusions A new safety marker, the CDF is proposed, being more reliable and safer on account of starting the dissection away from the CBD and potentially aberrant ducts, contrary to the line of RS. The CLN is more reliable in difficult LC, especially with acute inflammation. Infundibular dissection remains the default approach to “target identification” required to display the CVS. The true value of the CVS, as an end product of the process of dissection, lies in “target confirmation” before dividing any structures and in clearing the cystic plate to avoid injury to Couinaud Types C, F and hepato-cystic ducts.