The critical view of safety and bile duct injuries in laparoscopic cholecystectomy: a photo evaluation study on 1532 patients.

Abstract Background Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LCC) carries a 0.3–1.8% risk of bile duct injury (BDI). This study investigated if intraoperative photo documentation of the critical view of safety (CVS) is related to lower rates of BDIs and postoperative complications in LCC. Methods Surgeons were instructed to take photos of the view before clipping the cystic duct and artery. Two independent raters scored the photos 0–6 using predefined criteria for CVS. Mean scores of ≥4.5 were satisfactory. Results The study consisted of 1532 patients undergoing LCC between April 2018 and October 2019. CVS was satisfactory in 354 (23.1%), unsatisfactory in 823 (53.7%), and photos were missing in 355 (23.2%) patients. Patients with satisfactory CVS had the lowest BDI rate compared with unsatisfactory CVS or missing photos (0.3% vs. 1.0% vs. 2.3%, p = 0.012). Four major BDIs (Strasberg D-E) occurred, but none in patients with satisfactory CVS. Patients with satisfactory CVS had the lowest postoperative complication rate compared with patients with unsatisfactory CVS or without photos (4.8% vs. 7.9 vs. 9.9%, p = 0.011). Of patients with acute cholecystitis, 15.7% had satisfactory CVS, whereas 26.8% without cholecystitis had satisfactory CVS (p  Conclusion Intraoperative photo documentation of satisfactory CVS is associated with lower rates of BDIs and complications.