We analyzed the outcome of 1408 patients who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) between February 1991 and October 1993 in affiliated community hospitals around Hokkaido, Japan. LC was performed for symptomatic gallstones (68%) and asymptomatic gallstones (29%) using the pneumoperitoneum (96%) or abdominal wall lift (4%) techniques. Intraoperative and postoperative complications occurred in 105 patients (10%), including bile duct injuries in 9 patients (0.9%). Conversion to open surgery or reoperation was required in 89 patients (8%) mainly because of unclear anatomy, difficulties with hemostasis, or bile duct injury. One patient died of congestive heart failure, resulting in a mortality rate of 0.07%. The patients were discharged after an average of 8 days, and returned to work after an average of 14 days. The complication and conversion rates were high; however, the incidences of reoperation, bile duct injuries, postoperative bile leaks, and deaths were low. In conclusion, LC was performed with acceptable safety in our community hospitals. The reason for this is most likely that conventional cholecystectomy was preferred to LC in difficult cases during this early period.

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Primary squamous cell carcinoma of the intestine is extremely rare. This report describes a patient with primary squamous cell carcinoma of the small intestine. A 72-year-old Japanese woman was referred to our hospital because of a diagnosis of intestinal obstruction. She underwent laparotomy owing to the diagnosis of mechanical intestinal obstruction due to a pelvic mass after conservative treatment. The affected ileum was resected, and histopathological examination revealed proliferation of differentiated squamous cell carcinoma at the submucosal area with no adenocarcinoma component. At the 4th month after the operation, the level of serum squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) antigen was elevated. At 6 months after the operation, the serum SCC value was further elevated, and enhanced CT revealed two new pelvic tumors with enhancement at the mesentery and free space. A second laparotomy was performed 8 months after the operation. Histopathological examination showed differentiated squamous cell carcinoma as in the first operation. The level of serum SCC decreased at the 28th postoperative day. Chemotherapy including carboplatin and paclitaxel was performed as an adjuvant regimen. The patient has experienced no recurrence of squamous cell carcinoma for 55 months.

We analyzed the outcome of 1408 patients who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) between February 1991 and October 1993 in affiliated community hospitals around Hokkaido, Japan. LC was performed for symptomatic gallstones (68%) and asymptomatic gallstones (29%) using the pneumoperitoneum (96%) or abdominal wall lift (4%) techniques. Intraoperative and postoperative complications occurred in 105 patients (10%), including bile duct injuries in 9 patients (0.9%). Conversion to open surgery or reoperation was required in 89 patients (8%) mainly because of unclear anatomy, difficulties with hemostasis, or bile duct injury. One patient died of congestive heart failure, resulting in a mortality rate of 0.07%. The patients were discharged after an average of 8 days, and returned to work after an average of 14 days. The complication and conversion rates were high; however, the incidences of reoperation, bile duct injuries, postoperative bile leaks, and deaths were low. In conclusion, LC was performed with acceptable safety in our community hospitals. The reason for this is most likely that conventional cholecystectomy was preferred to LC in difficult cases during this early period.