Aim: To evaluate the role of laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) in the
management of cholelithiasis in children. Materials and Methods: A
retrospective review of our experience with LC for cholelithiasis at
our institution, between April 2006 and March 2009 was done. Data
points reviewed included patient demographics, clinical history,
haematological investigations, imaging studies, operative techniques,
postoperative complications, postoperative recovery and final
histopathological diagnosis. Results: During the study period of 36
months, 22 children (10 males and 12 females) with cholelithiasis were
treated by LC. The mean age was 9.4 years (range 3 to 18 years).
Twenty-one children had symptoms of biliary tract disease and one child
was incidentally detected with cholelithiasis during an ultrasonogram
of the abdomen for an unrelated cause. Only five (22.7%) children had
definitive etiological risk factors for cholelithiasis and the
remaining 13(77.3%) cases were idiopathic. Twenty cases had pigmented
gallstones and two had cholesterol gallstones. All the 22 patients
underwent LC, 21 elective and one emergency LC. The mean operative
duration was 74.2 minutes (range 50-180 minutes). Postoperative
complications occurred in two (9.1%) patients. The average duration of
hospital stay was 4.1 days (range 3-6 days). Conclusion: Laparoscopic
chloecystectomy is confirmed to be a safe and efficacious treatment for
pediatric cholelithiasis. The cause for an increased incidence of
pediatric gallstones and their natural history need to be further
evaluated
