**7. Postoperative care and patient's follow-up**

After the operation, the patients with LCBDE usually receive a broad-spectrum intravenous antibiotic for 48 hours in the postoperative period. If there is any evidence of sepsis or cholangitis (fever and elevated total leukocyte count), we continue the intravenous antibiotic treatment. If there is no sign of infection or sepsis, we start an oral antibiotic for five days.

In the early postoperative period, it is essential to continue the treatment of hypovolemia, to keep the fluid balance, especially in the case of T-tube after LCBDE. Avoidance of dyselectrolytemia and edema of the body, keeping stable blood pressure, pulse, and urine output, as well as sufficient nutritional support, are primordial for the correct management of these patients.

According to the literature, when the patient needs a radical operation after treatment of ERCP, PBD, or LCBDE, the operation can proceed if the total bilirubin level declines steadily by more than 30% for 2 weeks after the intervention, and it is not necessary for it to go down to normal. The biliary drainage was evaluated as effective if the total bilirubin level declines steadily by 20% for seven days at least [56].
