A Prospective Study Comparing Quality of Life and Cosmetic Results between Single-Port and Conventional Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

Abstract

Background: Multiple studies from the last five years have demonstrated that single-incision laparoscopic surgery cholecystectomy (SILS) is not only feasible but also produces a result comparable with that of conventional laparoscopic cholecystectomy (CLC). Methods and results: In this bicentric study, we used the Short Form (36) (SF-36) and Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) surveys to estimate and compare the post-operative quality of life up to the 28th post-operative day for 66 patients who had undergone either CLC (n = 32) or SILS (n = 34). Additionally, we investigated patient satisfaction with the cosmetic results after one year. The curves summarizing the eight sections in the physical sum scale and in the mental sum scale (SF-36) were the same within the confidence interval with a confidence level of 95%. Thus, post-operative quality of life could be assumed to be equivalent for the two groups. Evaluation of the NHP survey produced similar results. The perceived cosmetic results were significantly better for the SILS group (1.3 on a scale of 1 - 5 with 1 being the best) than for the CLC group (1.9) (p = 0.016). Conclusions: This study did not demonstrate better quality of life for the single-port procedure as it had been expected. Instead, the single-port procedure produced subjectively better cosmetic results.