ObjectiveTo evaluate the feasibility and safety of laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) in same-day surgery model. MethodsThe patients who underwent LC at West China Tianfu Hospital of Sichuan University from November 1, 2023 to July 31, 2024, were retrospectively reviewed. The enrolled patients were divided into a same-day surgery LC group (observation group) and a conventional inpatient LC group (control group). In the observation group, a same-day discharge protocol was implemented, whereby patients were admitted, operated on and discharged on the same day, with discharge required no later than 21:00 without an overnight stay. The control group was managed according to the conventional model. A comparison was carried out between the two groups concerning perioperative outcomes, surgery-related complications, postoperative urinary retention, total length of stay, total hospitalization costs, and 30-day follow-up results. ResultsA total of 347 patients were included, comprising 164 in the observation group and 183 in the control group. No statistically significant differences (P>0.05) were found between the two groups in the following terms: total anesthesia time, operative time, intraoperative blood loss, intraoperative fluid infusion, length of stay in the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU), fluid infusion in the PACU, placement of intra-abdominal draining, pain visual analog scale score at discharge, rates of unplanned revisits and readmission due to changes in their disease condition within 30 d after discharge, and the incidence of surgery-related complications. All complications in both groups were graded as Clavien-Dindo Ⅰ. The observation group demonstrated significantly lower or less preoperative fluid infusion, postoperative fluid infusion, total hospitalization costs, and a shorter total length of stay as compared with the control group (P<0.05). Furthermore, the incidence of postoperative urinary retention was significantly lower in the observation group as compared with the control group (P<0.05). ConclusionsThis study demonstrates that same-day surgery LC is a safe and feasible approach for appropriately selected patients. Its outcomes in key perioperative safety metrics are comparable to those of the conventional inpatient LC model, while it offers the significant advantages of effectively reducing the length of hospital stay, lowering medical costs, and decreasing the incidence of certain postoperative complications.