Surgical Science, 2013, 4, 448-452
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ss.2013.410088 Published Online October 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/ss)
Alternate Technique for Doing Laparoscopic
Cholecystectomy in Situs Inversus
*
Vikrant Singh
1
, Zahur Hussain
1
, Shadilal Kachroo
1
, Vanita Gupta
2#
, Harbinder Singh
1
,
Mukesh Kumar
1
, Barinder Kumar
1
1
Government Medical College, Jammu, India
2
Acharya Shree Chander College of Medical Sciences, Jammu, India
Email: vikrant1118@rediffmail.com,
#
doctorvanita@yahoo.co.in
Received May 3, 2013; revised June 2, 2013; accepted June 10, 2013
Copyright © 2013 Vikrant Singh et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
ABSTRACT
A 45-year-old female with known situs inversus totalis presented with left-sided abdominal discomfort. Chest X-ray,
abdominal ultrasonography and CT scan confirmed the diagnosis of a gallstone, as well as, situs inversus; Laparoscopic
cholecystectomy was safely performed with mirror image of standard 4 ports. Callots triangle dissection was done with
epigastric working port by surgeon, but gallbladder fossa dissection was done by surgical assistant from midclavicular
port as main working port. Laparoscopic surgeon should be careful for view of reversed relationships and also for exis-
tence of other anomalies.
Keywords: Situs Inversus Totalis; Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy; Anomalies
1. Introduction
Situs inversus is a morphological anomaly of positioning
of internal viscera wherein there is a reversal of the usual
“handedness” of visceral topography. The reversal may
be thoracic, abdominal or both. It is estimated to occur in
1 in 5000 - 20,000 births [1,2]. In the published literature,
there have been only about 40 reports of open cholecys-
tectomy in the pre-laparoscopic era and 20 reports of
laparoscopic cholecystectomy in patients with situs in-
versus [2-4]. Although there are many reports of patients
with situs inversus and cholelithiasis, there is no evi-
dence that the incidence of cholelithiasis is greater in
these patients [5]. It has been reported that about a third
of patients with situs inversus and symptomatic gall
stones may, however, present with epigastric pain and
about 10% of patients may present with right-sided pain
[6].
2. Case Report
Our patient was a 45-year-old female patient, who had four
children. Patient presented with pain left side of abdomen
and was been treated with antibiotics and painkillers with
no relief, after which ultrasound was done which re-
vealed left sided gallbladder with stones in it. Patient had
no co-morbidities or anomalies.
Chest X-ray showed dextrocardia consistent with situs
inversus but there was no evidence of Bronchiectasis
(Figure 1).
CECT showed situs inversus with Cholelithiasis (Fig-
ure 2).
*
The work was conducted in Department of Surgery, Government
Medical College Jammu, J & K.
#
Corresponding author.
Figure 1. Chest X-ray showing dextrocardia consistent with
situs inversus.
Copyright © 2013 SciRes. SS