OBJECTIVE: To investigate the causes of hemorrhage from the gallbladder bed during laparoscopic cholecystectomy.
METHODS: 617 patients who had received laparoscopic cholecystectomy from September, 2000 to March, 2001 at this hospital were reviewed retrospectively. Ninety-one of these patients were selected randomly for prospective observation. Color Doppler ultrasound was used to examine the cause of venous hemorrhage from the gallbladder bed during laparoscopic cholecystectomy and to examine the anatomic relationship between the gallbladder bed and the branches of the middle hepatic vein in 91 patients preoperatively.
RESULTS: A large branch of the middle hepatic vein extended closely behind the gallbladder bed in all 91 patients. The mean distance between the closest point (C point) of this branch to the gallbladder bed was 5.0±4.6 mm. The branch of the middle hepatic vein was completely adherent to the gallbladder bed in 14 (15.38%) of the 91 patients. The distance between this branch and the gallbladder bed was within 1 mm in 10 (10.99%) of the 91 patients. The inside diameter at C point of this branch was 3.2±1.1 mm. The C point was found on the left side of the longitudinal axis of the gallbladder in 31 (34.66%) of the 91 patients, on the right side in 39 patients (42.86%), just on the axis in 21 patients (23.08%). The venous blood flow rate at the C point was 9.9±3.3 cm/s.
CONCLUSIONS: A large branch of the middle hepatic vein passes behind the gallbladder. The inside diameter of this branch is relatively larger. The bleeding of this branch during operation can only be stopped by transfixion. The closest point of this vein to the gallbladder is mostly situated on the right side of the longitudinal axis of the gallbladder. Patients with large branches of the middle hepatic vein close to the gallbladder bed are at risk of hemorrhage during laparoscopic cholecystectomy and should be identified preoperatively with ultrasound.