Laparoscopic cholecystectomy as a day-case surgery in Azadi Teaching Hospital, Duhok

Background: Elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is a routine surgery performed daily in surgical settings. Objectives: In this prospective study, we aimed to explore the rate of complications in patients who underwent LC as a day-case surgery and discharged at an early stage (8–12 h postoperatively). In addition, the degree of symptom resolution and safety, and feasibility of the LC were examined accordingly. Materials and Methods: In this prospective study, 150 patients who underwent LC between October 2021 and October 2022 who attended surgery department of Azadi teaching hospital in Duhok were included. The general and medical characteristics of patients were obtained from their medical records. The surgical site infection was recorded through a standardized questionnaire. Results: The patients were predominately females (95, 63.3%) and had American Society of Anesthesiologists Classification I (110, 73.3%) aged between 18 and 65 years. The study found that 95% of patients were discharged within the first 8–10 h postoperatively. The rate of readmission was found among 5.3% (n = 8). The complication rate was 8% (n = 12. The surgical site infection rate was 6% (n = 6). The combined complication rate was 8% (n = 12). The complete resolution of symptoms was found among 80% of patients. Among 4% of the patients who had residual symptoms, 10% had abdominal discomfort, 4% had reflux symptoms, and 2% reported diarrhea. The satisfaction rate was 97.3%. There was a statistically significant difference between admitted and re-admitted patients regarding gall bladder perforation, conversion to open surgery and overnight hospital stay (P < 0.001). Conclusion: This study shows that the LC is a safe surgical technique because the rate of complications were low and most of them were minor and managed appropriately, we also concluded that LC is a safe day-case surgery with low readmission rate and high patients satisfaction, overall it will decrease the hospital burden and bed occupancy rate.