BACKGROUND:

Bile duct reconstruction (BDR) secondary to bile duct injury during cholecystectomy (BDIC) is a complex surgery, and an important issue is the quality of life (QL) after the procedure.

AIM:

To compare the QL of a cohort of patients who underwent BDR due to BDIC with a cohort of patients who underwent a cholecystectomy without incidents.

MATERIAL AND METHODS:

The cohort was composed of 32 patients aged 47 ± 18 years (78% women) who underwent BDR due to BDIC. For purposes of comparison, a cohort of patients who underwent a cholecystectomy without incident was chosen.

These cohorts were paired 1:

1 by age (± 1 year), gender and type of surgery. The SF-36 quality of life survey was applied in person or by telephone. The score was calculated as proposed by the RAND group.

RESULTS:

The cohort of BDR patients was comprised of 32 patients, with an average age of 47 ± 17.6 years, with a predominance of women (78%). The mean number of hospitalization days among BDR patients was 20 ± 11.8. The average follow-up was 7 ± 5 years. The mean score of patients undergoing RVB or cholecystectomy without complications was evaluated, without finding differences in the score of the different domains of the SF-36 scale.

Conclusions:

In the present study no significant differences were found in QL between the patients with BDIC who underwent BDR and patients who underwent a cholecystectomy without complications.