The utility of laparoscopic common bile duct exploration in the treatment of choledocholithiasis.

Laparoscopic common bile duct exploration (CBDE) was performed in 24 patients over a 23-month period. Fourteen of these patients were suspected preoperatively of harboring common bile duct (CBD) calculi. Of these, endoscopic sphincterotomy was unsuccessful in eight. Laparoscopic CBDE was performed either transcystically or via a choledochotomy. In all cases, completion cholangiography demonstrated that the CBD was free of stones. All patients were sent home with drains placed in their extrahepatic biliary system. Mean hospital stay was 2.7 days. There was no mortality. The overall morbidity rate was 29.1%. It included one trocar site infection (4.1%), four cases of mild postoperative amylasemia (16.6%), and two cases of retained stones (8.3%) seen in two patients on follow-up tube cholangiography that were successfully extracted percutaneously. The authors feel that laparoscopic CBDE is a safe and effective method of CBD stone removal that offers an alternative to preoperative ERCP and sphincterotomy.