<p>Outcomes of laparoscopic cholecystectomy in patients with and without COPD</p>

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the outcomes of patients with COPD after laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). Patients and methods: All COPD patients who underwent LC from 2000 to 2010 were identified from the Taiwanese National Health Insurance Research Database. The outcomes of hospital stay, intensive care unit (ICU) stay, and use of mechanical ventilation and life support measures in COPD and non-COPD populations were compared. Results: A total of 3,954 COPD patients who underwent LC were enrolled in our study. There were significant differences in the hospitalization period, ICU stay, and use of mechanical ventilation and life support measures between the COPD and non-COPD populations. The mean hospital stay, ICU stay and number of mechanical ventilation days in the COPD and non-COPD groups were 7.81 vs 6.01 days, 5.5 vs 4.5 days and 6.40 vs 4.74 days, respectively. The use of life support measures, including vasopressors and hemodialysis, and the rates of hospital mortality, acute respiratory failure and pneumonia were also increased in COPD patients compared with those in non-COPD patients. Conclusion: COPD increased the risk of mortality, lengths of hospital and ICU stays, ventilator days and poor outcomes after LC in this study. Keywords: COPD, laparoscopic cholecystectomy, outcome A Letter to the Editor has been published for this article. A response to the letter has been published