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BACKGROUND: Acute cholecystitis is an acute inflammation of the gallbladder, with laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) being the treatment of choice, although, timing of the intervention still remains controversial. OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between timing of intervention and postoperative stay of patients who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Cross-sectional study. Medical records of patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy at Dr. Gustavo Fricke Hospital in Vina del Mar, Chile between January and October 2011 were analized. Inclusion criteria: Age between 18 and 80 years old; diagnosis of acute cholecystitis and indication of laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Exclusion criteria: Patient according to American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status classification system (ASA) 4 or 5. The variables considered were: age, gender, ASA score, previous abdominal surgery, hospital stay, operative time and occurrence of complications. RESULTS: Data of 88 patients was analyzed. 31 of them were operated within 72 hours of beginning of symptoms (late LC) and 57 patients after 72 hours (early LC). The median hospital stay in late LC group was nine days and in the early LC group three days (IQR 2-4), which was statistically significant (p = 0.00001). No other significant differences were found in relation to demographic and clinical characteristics, operative time, complications, and postoperative stay. DISCUSSION: Regardless a lack of difference in postoperative stay, operative time and complication rate, it seems advisable to perform LC within 72 hours of symptom onset in patients with acute cholecystitis, given the reduction of total hospital stay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]