BACKGROUND: To evaluate the incidence of choledocholitiasis in patients submitted to the laparoscopic cholecystectomy, carriers of acute and chronic calculous cholecystitis .The present study also analyses if the laparoscopic age modified the incidence and the natural history of lithiasis of the biliary duct when it compares the data of literature with yhe indices of the studied group. METHOD: The study was carried out in a group of 946 patients subdivided in group A of 1991 - 1995 and group B of 732 patients of 1999 - 2007 submitted to the cholecystectomy by the laparoscope method. The diagnostic criterion of choledocholithiasis was estabilished by cholangiofluroscopy of routine in all surgeries. RESULTS: The total incidence of choledocholithiasis in the group A - 9,8%, and in the group B - 5,8% doesn't show difference significant statistics between itself and with the world-wide literature (p=0,08). In the patients operated for acute cholecystitis difference statistics was not also observed between group A and B in the incidence of lithiasis of the biliary duct (p=0,8). The analysis of the data in operated patients for chronic cholecystitis discloses a smaller tax of choledocholitiasis in group B of 3,7% with significant statistics in the group A of 8,4% p=0,03. CONCLUSION: The present study discloses an expressive reduction in the incidence of choledocholitiasis in group B in relation to the A and worl-wide literature when the surgical indication occurs in the not complicated phase of the biliary lithiasic illness. The study demonstrates a significant increase in the indication of precocious elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy in group B already observed in diverse publications of medical literature.
Choledocholithiasis; Laparoscopic surgery; Jaundice
