Omental patch as prevention for bile leak in patients undergoing subtotal cholecystectomy: a propensity score analysis

Subtotal cholecystectomy is one of the most frequent bail-out procedures performed during difficult cholecystectomy. A common complication to this procedure is bile leak, and thus multiple strategies have been created to avoid its appearance. This study aims to evaluate the effectivity of using an omental patch as bile leak prevention in patients undergoing subtotal cholecystectomy. A retrospective cohort study including patients who underwent subtotal cholecystectomy between 2014 and 2022 was performed. 17 patients had an omental patch, while 378 did not; the latter were included to evaluate surgical outcomes with bile leak as a primary outcome using a propensity score matching analysis (PSM). Patients’ median age in both groups after PSM was 71.00 (IQR: 59.00–81.00) and 69.00 (IQR: 61.75–80.25) years, respectively. The dominant sex in both groups was male. In most cases surgical procedure indication was cholecystitis. Patients who had an omental patch did not present statistically significant differences for bile leak rates compared to patients who did not (29.4% versus 17.6%, p = 0.456, respectively). Similar results were observed when evaluating the need for postoperative ERCP for bile leak management (23.5 versus 5.9%, p = 0.078). A statistically significant higher proportion of major complications were observed in patients who had an omental patch (47.1% versus 19.1%, p = 0.038). Pedicled omental patch was not an effective measure for preventing bile leak, and it even presented a higher rate of complications. It is thus imperative to continue evaluating other strategies for the prevention of bile leak during subtotal cholecystectomy.