Aggressive Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy in Accordance with the Tokyo Guideline 2018

Objectives: The Tokyo Guidelines 2018 have been widely adopted since their publication. However, the few reports on clinical outcomes following laparoscopic cholecystectomy have not taken into account the severity of the acute cholecystitis and the patient's general condition, as estimated by the Charlson comorbidity index. This study aimed to assess the relationships between severity, Charlson comorbidity index, and clinical outcomes subsequent to laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Methods: We extracted the retrospective data for 370 Japanese patients who underwent emergency or scheduled early laparoscopic cholecystectomy within 72 hours from onset between February 2015 and August 2018. We compared postoperative factors in relationship to severity (grade I versus grade II/III). Then, we made a similar comparison between those with low (< 4) and high Charlson comorbidity index (>= 4). Results: According to the Tokyo guideline 2018 levels of severity, there were 282 (76.2%), 61 (16.5%), and 27 (7.3%) patients in grades I, II, and III, respectively. With regards to surgical outcomes, the mean operating time was 62.3 minutes and the mean blood loss was 24.4 mL. The mean hospital stay was 3.6 days, with no mortalities. Blood loss was the only factor affected by severity (20.9 mL versus 60.1 mL, P = 0.0164), and operating time was the only factor affected by high Charlson comorbidity index (53.4 versus 67.8 minutes, P = 0.0153). Conclusion: Our aggressive strategy is acceptable, and severity and Charlson comorbidity index are not critical factors suggesting the disqualification of early laparoscopic cholecystectomy in patients with any grade acute cholecystitis.