Cholecystectomy in a community hospital.

Modern elective cholecystectomy, when distinguished from emergency operations and those complicated by choledocholithiasis, should be a safe procedure with a brief hospital stay. In a community hospital, 100 consecutive patients underwent cholecystectomy, with minor complications in 7 percent. The postoperative hospital stay averaged less than 4 days, and the cost was just over +2,000. Elective cholecystectomy in the community can have minimal risk and will likely remain cost-effective even when medical therapies become available.