Diagnostic and Therapeutic Value of Diagnostic Laparoscopy in Patient with Chronic Abdominal Pain

Abstract

Introduction: Chronic abdominal pain is a troublesome dilemma confronting both the medical and surgical care professionals. These patients are submitted to a lot of diagnostic investigations but, regretfully, no precise etiology of their problem could be elucidated. Diagnostic laparoscopy, apart from visualizing the entire abdominal cavity, allows us to take precise biopsies. Laparoscopy also offers a therapeutic solution for many causes of chronic abdominal pain. Patient and Methods: Patient with the inclusion criteria underwent diagnostic laparoscopy for chronic abdominal pain over the last three years from January 2011 to December 2013. The patient’s demographic data, duration of abdominal pain, diagnostic studies, intra-operative findings, interventions and follow-up results were recorded. Results: In this study, 80 patients (55 female and 25male) with an average age of 23 ± 14.76 years underwent diagnostic laparoscopy for the evaluation and treatment of chronic abdominal pain. The average duration of pain was 8 ± 2.85 months. Findings included intra-abdominal tuberculousis in 4 patients, internal herniation in 2 patients, significant intra-abdominal adhesions in 18 patients, secondary intessusception in 2 patients, small intestinal stone in 1 patient, intestinal lymphoma in 1 patient, abdominal lymphadenopathy due to lymphoma in 2 patients, cecal diverticulum in 2 patients and subacute appendicitis in 19 patients, jejunal diverticulum in 1 patient, Chron's disease in 2 patients, endometriosis in 3 patients and inflamed Meckle's diverticulum in 1 patient. Conclusion: Diagnostic laparoscopy is a simple, rapid, effective and accurate tool in evaluating patients with chronic abdominal pain, in whom conventional methods of investigations have failed to elicit a certain cause with the advantage that it is an effective therapeutic and accessible tissue sampling tool.