On the Issue of “Gold Standards”: is All that Glitters Gold? (Comparative Evaluation of Uncomplicated Cholelithiasis Surgical Treatment Methods Effectiveness)

Relevance The necessity to improve tactic approaches to and methods of cholelithiasis surgical treatment is dictated by the steadily increasing prevalence of this pathology among persons of various ages and social groups.
The purpose of the study Retrospctive analysis of the surgical treatment of patients with uncomplicated cholelithiasis in the comparative plan with the literature data and generally accepted criteria of effectiveness of modern kinds of operative aids.
Materials and methods The treatment experience of 4557 patients operated from 2003 to 2012 and the modern literature data were assumed as the study basis. The methods of statistical data processing of case histories by application of microsoft office excel and statistica 6.0 Programmes. The literature data are given in the interpretation of the authors of the publications.
Results and their discussion The conducted detailed comparison of videolaparoscopic and minilapatomic cholecystectomy according to modern generally accepted criteria of effectiveness showed that these two technologies do not differ significantly in traumaticity, duration, conversions frequency, number of intra- and postoperative complications, durations of the rehabilitation period.
Conclusion The submitted literature and our own material reveal that today these two methods co-exist on a quite compatative basis and there are not any sufficient reasons to consider videolaparoscopic cholecystectomy as “a golden standard” in the surgical treatment of cholelithiasis.

Cholelithiasis, mini-invasive methods of cholecystectomy, comparative analysis