Early Versus Delayed Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy after Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP)

Abstract Background: Gallstones have been recognized since antiq-uity and have been found during autopsies of Egyptian mum-mies. Following the first successful open cholecystectomy in 1882, it was Eric Muhe, a German surgeon, who performed the first laparoscopic cholecystectomy in 1985. Aim of Study: To establish the feasibility, complications, and outcome of different time intervals between endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) in the management of choledocholith-iasis. Patients and Methods: This study was carried out on 60 pa-tients who were randomized by systematic randomization into two groups according to the interval between ERCP and LC defined as short (3 days) or long (weeks) All patients have undergone ERCP with sphincterotomy followed by elective LC. Patients' age, sex, history of previous acute cholecystitis, acute pancreatitis and jaundice, abdomi-nal ultrasonography findings, serum bilirubin, alkaline phos-phatase, gamma-glutamyl transferase levels, ERCP findings, time interval between ERCP and LC, conversion rate, median operative time, intraoperative complications, hospital stay, and postoperative complication rates were collected. Results: There was no statistically significant difference between the demographics of the patients, the preoperative history, laboratory data or ultrasonographic findings in the two groups. Conclusion: Early cholecystectomy after ERCP within 72 h has better outcomes, probably due to less inflammatory pro-cesses following ERCP.