Single center experiences of needle-scopic grasper assisted single incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy for gallbladder benign disease: comparison with conventional 3-port laparoscopic cholecystectomy

PURPOSE: Single incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy (SILC) has some technical problems. Our group has performed needlescopic grasper assisted SILC (nSILC) to overcome these problems. In this study, we introduce our technique and evaluate the safety and feasibility of this technique compared with the conventional laparoscopic cholecystectomy (CLC). METHODS: The medical records of 485 patients who received nSILC and CLC were reviewed retrospectively. Surgical outcomes including operative time, hospital stay, postoperative pain and perioperative complication were compared between the 2 techniques. RESULTS: Although wound complications were developed more frequently in nSILC group, there was no significant difference between groups in other surgical outcomes. In subgroup analysis, surgical outcomes of nSILC were similar with those of CLC not only in easy group but also in difficult group. CONCLUSION: It seems that nSILC is safe and feasible not only in selected patients but also in difficult cases such as acute cholecystitis.