To evaluate the safety and efficacy of laparoscopic surgery for recurrent common bile duct stones.

Clinical data of 246 patients with recurrent common bile duct stones admitted to Zhoukou Central Hospital from January 2013 to April 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. Among them, 120 patients were male and 126 female, aged 40-85 years with a median age of 62 years. The informed consents of all patients were obtained and the local ethical committee approval was received. The patients were divided into the laparoscopic surgery group (n=134) and open surgery group (n=112) according to different surgical methods. The perioperative conditions, such as the operation time and intraoperative blood loss were statistically compared between two groups by t test. The incidence of postoperative complications was compared by Chi-square test.

All surgeries were successfully completed in two groups. No perioperative death occurred. In the laparoscopic surgery group, the operation time, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative anal exhaust time and length of postoperative hospital stay were respectively (90±16) min, (26±14) ml, (25.7±1.4) hand (7.2±0.7) d, significantly less than (130±17) min, (41±18) ml, (72.5±5.3) h and (13.2±1.5) d in the open surgery group (t=-26.871, -33.214, -17.971, -6.552; P<0.05). In the laparoscopic surgery group, the usage rate of analgesics and the incidence of postoperative incisional infection were respectively 5.2% (7/134) and 2.2% (3/134), significantly lower than 71.4% (80/112) and 9.8% (11/112) in the open surgery group (χ²= 45.950, 25.510; P<0.05).

Compared with open surgery, laparoscopic surgery possesses the advantages of safe, smaller trauma and faster postoperative recovery for patients with recurrent common bile duct stones, providing a novel treatment option.