Three Port versus Conventional Four-Port Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy: A Comparative Study

Objective: To compare the complications among patients undergoing three-port versus four-port laparoscopic cholecystectomy at our tertiary care hospital. Study Design: Comparative cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Surgery, Combined Military Hospital, Quetta Pakistan, from Feb to Oct 2021. Methodology: Study was conducted on 200 patients who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy for any benign gall bladder pathology during the study period. Patients were randomly divided into two groups. Group-A underwent a three-port laparoscopic cholecystectomy, while Group-B underwent a four-port laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Post-operative pain, surgical site infection, duration of hospital stay, and conversion to open method were compared in both groups. Results: Out of 100 patients included in the final analysis, 33 were male, and 67 were female. The mean age of patients who underwent laparoscopic surgery for benign gall bladder pathologies in our study was 42.95±9.47 years. 43(43%) underwent three ports, while 57(57%) underwent four port laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Duration of hospital stay was statistically significantly less in patients with three-port laparoscopic surgery than in patients undergoing four-port laparoscopic cholecystectomy (p-value<0.05).Conclusion: Three-port laparoscopic cholecystectomy emerged as a better option than conventional four-port cholecystectomy in our study population in terms of the shorter duration of hospital stay. All other complications were not significantly different in both groups.