Ref (type)	Population	Outcome, Interventions	Results and statistical analysis	Effect size	Favours
Postoperative pain and analgesic use
Systematic review	175 people with acute cholecystitis 2 RCTs in this analysis	Postoperative pain scores 4 to 8 hours with laparoscopic cholecystectomy with minilaparoscopic cholecystectomy Absolute numbers not reported	SMD –0.46 95% CI –0.76 to –0.16 P = 0.003	Effect size not calculated	minilaparoscopic cholecystectomy
Systematic review	215 people with acute cholecystitis 3 RCTs in this analysis	Postoperative pain scores 9 to 24 hours with laparoscopic cholecystectomy with minilaparoscopic cholecystectomy Absolute numbers not reported	SMD –0.29 95% CI –0.56 to –0.02 P = 0.02	Effect size not calculated	minilaparoscopic cholecystectomy
Systematic review	215 people with acute cholecystitis 4 RCTs in this analysis	Mean opiate use 9 to 24 hours with laparoscopic cholecystectomy with minilaparoscopic cholecystectomy Absolute numbers not reported	SMD –0.40 95% CI –0.68 to –0.13 P = 0.004	Effect size not calculated	minilaparoscopic cholecystectomy
Duration of hospital stay
Systematic review	315 people with acute cholecystitis 5 RCTs in this analysis	Mean duration of hospital stay with laparoscopic cholecystectomy with minilaparoscopic cholecystectomy Absolute numbers not reported	SMD –0.28 days 95% CI –0.61 days to +0.04 days P = 0.09		Not significant
Patient satisfaction
Systematic review	40 people with acute cholecystitis Data from 1 RCT	Patient satisfaction scores 2.49 with laparoscopic cholecystectomy 2.37 with minilaparoscopic cholecystectomy	SMD –0.03 95% CI –0.65 to +0.59 P = 0.93		Not significant
Postoperative complications
Systematic review	317 people with acute cholecystitis 6 RCTs in this analysis	Proportion of people with wound infection 2/172 (1%) with laparoscopic cholecystectomy 6/145 (4%) with minilaparoscopic cholecystectomy	RR 0.39 95% CI 0.11 to 1.48 P = 0.17		Not significant
Systematic review	212 people with acute cholecystitis 3 RCTs in this analysis	Proportion of people with bile duct injury 0/117 (0%) with laparoscopic cholecystectomy 2/95 (2%) with minilaparoscopic cholecystectomy	RR 0.26 95% CI 0.01 to 5.11 P = 0.17		Not significant