Laparoscopic cholecystectomy for left-sided gallbladder: report of two cases.

We report two cases in which patients, who had different junctions of the cystic duct with the common bile duct (CBD), with left-sided gallbladders were treated with laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The first patient, a 69-year-old man, could be diagnosed intraoperatively, and his cystic duct joined the CBD from the right side. The gallbladder of the second patient, a 52-year-old woman, was located on the left side of the CBD, and the cystic duct entered the left hepatic duct directly. In both instances, successful laparoscopic cholecystectomy was performed, and the patients recovered uneventfully. We describe these cases and discuss the key procedures for safe laparoscopic cholecystectomy for a left-sided gallbladder from our experience and a review of the relevant literature.