The Guidance Impact of Preoperative Magnetic Resonance Cholangiopancreatography on Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy.

Abstract

Detailed preoperative delineation of biliary tract anatomy plays a pivotal role in guiding surgeons completing laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) smoothly. Hereby, we retrospectively investigated the potential impact of preoperative magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) on LC. In this study, clinical data of LC patients who received conventional preoperative examinations from January 2008 to December 2010 (Ctrl group, n = 300) versus conventional examinations plus extra preoperative MRCP assessment between January 2011 and December 2013 (MRCP group, n = 300) were randomly retrieved. The ratios of conversion to open cholecystectomy and various postoperative morbidities were respectively analyzed. In total, the incidences of operation conversion, postoperative remnant cystic duct stone, and choledocholithiasis in the MRCP group were 12 (4.0%), 1 (0.3%), and 2 (0.7%), respectively, all evidently lower than those in the Ctrl group: 41 (13.7%), 7 (2.3%), and 9 (3.0%). In addition, the MRCP group also presented with fewer cases of bile duct injury and incidental gallbladder carcinoma compared with the Ctrl group (1 versus 5 and 1 versus 2, respectively), although none of the variances was statistically significant. Our results demonstrated that preoperative MRCP had a robust safeguarding effect on LC and deserves further promotion.