Two-port laparoscopic cholecystectomy: an innovative new method for gallbladder removal.

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is the gold standard in gallbladder surgery all over the world today. The operation is routinely performed using four or three ports of entry into the abdomen. We have now modified this procedure and introduced a new innovative two-port method of gallbladder removal. Between September 1997 and November 1997, 50 consecutive patients (41 females and 9 males; mean age 41 years) with calculus cholecystitis underwent our new two-port procedure. In this operation, only the supraumbilical port (10 mm/5 mm) and the epigastric port (10 mm) were used for access. The gallbladder was manipulated through three strategically placed traction sutures, passed through the fundus, the body, and the neck area of the gallbladder, respectively. The operating time required was 35 to 125 minutes, with an average time of 56 minutes. None of the patients required conversion to the four-port technique. All patients were on liquids after 6 hours. The average hospital stay was 1.31 days. Postoperative pain was significantly reduced, and the procedure was cosmetically more acceptable to the patient.