Abstract Aims Accuracy of the Traffic Light scoring system in predicting operative difficulty and the length of the procedure in early cholecystectomy service delivery. Patients and Method We triaged patients using the Traffic Light Booking system for prioritising surgical intervention with scoring based on the severity of acute gallstone presentation. We started early gallbladder service in February 2022 using the weighted scores of patients’ demographics, BMI, comorbidities, investigation results, diagnosis and associated gallstone complications and the preoperative interventions (ERCP or cholecystostomy). The scores were stratified into traffic light system colours of green (0-3), amber (4-6) and red (7) to predict the operative difficulty and allocated operative time for effective theatre session use. Early cholecystectomy was performed within 6 weeks of the onset of symptoms and the operative difficulty grading. Results 346 patient were operated with a median age of 51(20-96) years and Male to female ratio of 1: 2.5. The diagnoses were biliary colic (89), acute cholecystitis (172), gallstone pancreatitis (62), acute cholecystitis and pancreatitis (9) and obstructive jaundice (13). Preoperative traffic light grading was green (189), amber (130) and red (27). The median operative time 32(25-210) minutes and the mean hospital stay was 0.43(0-12) days. A direct correlation exists between the preoperative scoring and the operative difficulty (p-value = 0.0001). A direct correlation between the preoperative traffic light scoring and the length of the procedure (p-value = 0.0001) was observed. Conclusion Our Traffic Light Booking system accurately predicted the operative difficulty and the duration of the procedure.
Enayathulla et al. (Fri,) studied this question.
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