Purpose: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) has rapidly replaced open cholecystectomy as a treatment of choice for symptomatic cholelithiasis. This procedure has had on the fatest growing segment of our population: elderly and those 80 years or older who are at high risk for surgery. This study is aimed to assess the clinical benefits of LC in patients 80 years or older. Methods: From 2002 to 2004, a total of 299 patients underwent LC, 15 patients of 80 years or older were compared with 284 younger patients. Results: In this study, 15 patients (2 males and 13 females) with a mean age of 83.8⁑3.8 years (range, 80∼93) were evaluated. Disease severity of 15 patients included 6 patients (40.0%) with acute cholecystitis, one patient (6.7%) with acute gallstone pancreatitis, one patient (6.7%) with ascending cholangitis, 2 patients (13.3%) with empyema, and 5 patients (33.3%) with uncomplicated cholelithiasis. The mean operative time was 72.3⁑45.5 min. Complications occurred in 4 patients (26.8%) including bladder retention in one patient, paralytic ileus in one patient, retained stone in one patient, postoperative bleeding in one patient. The mean length of stay was 7.1⁑3.9 days. There were no differences in disease severity, operative time, complication rate and hospital stay between 80 years or older and younger group (p＞0.05). Conclusion: LC is a safe and effective procedure for most elderly patients with symptomatic cholelithiasis, including the elderly 80 years or older. We recommend that early LC should be encouraged in symptomatic elderly patients before the development of complicated cholelithiasis.

Keywords: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy, Elderly, Aged 80