Laparoscopic cholecystectomy minimally impairs postoperative cardiorespiratory and muscle performance.

Surgery elicits a subjective feeling of postoperative fatigue, at least partly related to an impairment in cardiorespiratory function and muscle performance. Laparoscopic surgery is reported to impair the patient's condition minimally. The aim of this study was to assess exercise performance in patients scheduled for elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Nine patients assessed as having American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) grade I were enrolled in the study. Subjective feelings of fatigue (measured on a visual analogue scale), and heart rate, systemic arterial pressure oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production responses to graded exercise testing, were assessed before operation and on days 3 and 10 after operation. There were no significant differences in any of these measurements, at rest or during exercise, between the preoperative and postoperative values. Uncomplicated laparoscopic cholecystectomy does not impair postoperative cardiorespiratory and muscle performance or induce significant postoperative fatigue in patients with ASA I, allowing rapid recovery.