BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to analyze the incidence, morbidity and mortality of iatrogenic biliary tract injury during laparoscopic cholecystectomies in a teaching hospital. METHODS: Retrospective study at Hospital Universitário Clementino Fraga Filho of the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro from January 1992 to December 2003. Total and partial injuries, the time to recognize them and types of repair were reviewed. RESULTS: During the studied period, 1589 patients underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomies with four biliary tract injuries (0.25%), all of them occuring in the recent years. CONCLUSION: The incidence of iatrogenic biliary tract injury in our series was similar to the literature and very similar to the open procedure.
Biliary tract; Iatrogenic disease; Incidence; Cholecystectomy
