BACKGROUND: To evaluate pulmonary function after laparoscopic and subcostal cholecystectomies. METHODS: This was a randomized study, in which postoperative spirometries in two groups of fifteen patients each were evaluated. Group GL underwent laparoscopic chlecystectomies. Group GA underwent open subcostal cholecystectomies by means of mini-laparatomy, in abbreviated anesthetic-surgical time. The two groups´ variables were compared using ANOVA. Within the same group, before and after the operations, the paired Student-t test was used. A value of p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: All patients from both groups presented restrictive postoperative ventilatory disturbances, with a faster spirometric normalization for those patients operated through laparoscopy. Groups GL vs. GA, in immediate post-operative: Forced Vital Capacity (p < 0.001) and Forced Expiratory Volume in one second (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Postoperative harm to pulmonary function was significantly less in laparoscopic than in open cholecystectomies, even with mini-laparotomies and abbreviated anesthetic-surgical time.
Respiratory function tests; Cholecystectomy; Laparoscopic cholecystectomy
