Laparoscopic cholecystectomy in the elderly: a prospective study

The aim of this prospective study was to determine the feasibility and the complications or benefits of laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) in the patients older than 75 years.From January 1992 to July 1998, a total of 863 patients underwent LC, of these patients, 102 patients older than 75 years (group 1) were compared with 761 younger patients (group 2).In the elderly, 35.3% were at high surgical risk (American Society of Anesthesiology [ASA] III and ASA IV). The conversion rate to open cholecystectomy (OC) was 21.6%. The mean length of hospital stay was 6.9 days for both laparoscopy and conversion. Morbidity and mortality rates were 13.7% and 1%, respectively. No patient suffered intraoperative cardiopulmonary complication, and there was no reoperation in the elderly.Elderly patients experience more complications and longer duration of hospital stay than younger patients. However, our results compare favorably with other OC studies in elderly patients.