Prem Kumar Rathi, Abdul Razaque Shaikh, Nandlal Kella, Rasool Bux Behan.
Laparoscopic cholecystectomy without the use of drain in selected cases.
J Liaquat Uni Med Health Sci Jan ;10(3):117-20.

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of omitting the routine drainage after laparoscopic cholecystectomy, with respect to hospital stay, morbidity, and mortality. METHODOLOGY: This comparative observational study was carried out in the Department of Surgery, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro, from January 2009 to December 2009. During study period 100 consecutive cases of cholelithiasis, underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The patients were divided in two groups; group A without drain and group B with drain. The effects of omitting the drain, regarding hospital stay, morbidity, and mortality were observed. RESULTS: This study consists of 100 patients (male 22 and females78) with male female ratio of 1:3.54 and mean age of 37.86 years. Post operative hospital stay in patients without drain was 2.1 days as compared to 3.58 days for those with drain (p-value 0.000). Moreover the use of drain has also been found to be associated with significant drain site pain / discomfort. There was no mortality in any group. CONCLUSION: We have observed that routine placement of drain after laparoscopic cholecystectomy, not only prolongs the post-operative hospital stay; it also leads to drain site pain / discomfort.

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