- SAGES seeks to create a universal culture of safety in cholecystectomy by educating residents, fellows, and practicing surgeons about technical steps to prevent bile duct injury, such as the Critical View of Safety and intraoperative biliary imaging.
- Please click on the link for strategies for minimizing bile duct injuries and a video by Dr. Michael Brunt introducing the SAGES Safe Cholecystectomy program. https://www.sages.org/safe-cholecystectomy-program/
- The SAGES Safe Cholecystectomy Task Force is designing its approach based on the results of a Delphi survey of SAGES leadership and experts in cholecystectomy. The Task Force is comprised of experienced surgeons representing academia and community surgeons.
- The Task Force plans also to support surgical decision-making around the timing of surgery for acute cholecystitis and the management of various difficult cholecystectomy scenarios.
- According to SAGES President, Dr. Michael Brunt, “After 25 years of laparoscopic cholecystectomy, it is time to undertake the difficult issue of reducing bile duct injuries for this common procedure. The SAGES Task Force on Safe Cholecystectomy is committed to this purpose and we look forward to working with the surgical community to accomplish this goal.”
- Bile duct injury (BDI) can be a devastating complication of cholecystectomy, one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures in the world. It has been reported to occur in 0.2 to 1% of laparoscopic cholecystectomies.
- While the human costs of BDI cannot easily be measured, the economic burden associated with BDI has been reported to range from $613,588 to $788,586 per million population.
- There will be a half-day session devoted to preventing BDI and improving safety in cholecystectomy during the 2015 SAGES meeting.
- Reference: HPB (Oxford). 2008;10(6):416-9. doi: 10.1080/13651820802140745. Iatrogenic bile duct injury–a cost analysis. Andersson R1, Eriksson K, Blind PJ, Tingstedt B.