Our laparoscopic experience in management of chronic abdominal pain : a cross-sectional study

الملخص EN

Background : laparoscopic and endoscopic surgery are currently worldwide surgical procedures.

Laparoscopic surgery in particularis a minimal invasive surgery.

The rapid evolution of laparoscopic surgical subspeciality have introduced it into a wide range of clinical applications regarding diagnosis and / or therapy of remarkable spectrum of diseases.

Laparoscopy, in optimal circumstances, enables excellent visualization of the abdominal cavity.

Accordingly, it has been practiced in this study to assess and / or treat cases of chronic abdominal pain.

Objectives : this study tries to evaluate the significance of adopting laparoscopy in the management of patients with chronic abdominal pain in Al-Hilla General Teaching Hospital.

Methods : this is a cross-sectional case series study that had assessed (49) patients of an average age of (35)years complaining of chronic abdominal pain for the period 01 / 09 / 2008-01 / 09 / 2011.

Postoperative follow-up was conducted for (12) months.

All cases of known intra-abdominal malignancies were excluded from this study.

All data were collected using a formed questionnaire by the worker and information were filled by the worker single handly.

Results : Thirty-four patients ( 69 %) of the study group had previous abdominal or pelvic surgery.

Thirty-five patients (71 %) showed intra-abdominal adhesions.

Thirty-one patients (63 %) had undergone laparoscopic adhesiolysis while the remaining four cases had their adhesions kept undisturbed as they were considered to be insignificant.

Three patients (6.1 %) exhibited mesenteric lymphadenopathy which was discovered to be secondary to chronic upper respiratory tract infections.

Two cases (4 %) of unilateral left-sided inguinal hernias were disclosed.

One case (2 %) of abnormally looking appendix was detected and managed by laparoscopic appendectomy.

Eight Patients (16.3 %) showed complete normality on laparoscopy.

Conclusion : with standard laparoscopic equipements, techniques and postoperative care laparoscopy is a safe, useful and more informative invasive investigation to evaluate and / or resolve the problem of chronic abdominal pain.