Diagnostic laparoscopy decreases the rate of unnecessary laparotomies and reduces hospital costs in trauma patients.

Abstract

The use of laparoscopy for the treatment of various surgical diseases has been well described, and recently, it has gained popularity in the evaluation of abdominal trauma patients. The value of diagnostic laparoscopy (DL) in avoiding unnecessary laparotomies and its effects on hospital costs was evaluated in a prospective clinical trial. In a 48-month period, 99 hemodynamically stable abdominal trauma patients (28 blunt and 71 penetrating injuries) among 428 patients admitted with abdominal trauma in whom the decision for surgical exploration was made were accepted for the study and underwent DL prior to laparotomy. The DL was negative in 60.7% of the patients with blunt abdominal trauma (BAT) and in 62.0% of the patients with penetrating abdominal trauma (PAT). Laparoscopy-positive patients (Group 1) underwent immediate laparotomy, whereas on DL-negative patients (Group 2), no laparotomies were performed. Hospitalization times and hospital costs of the two groups were recorded and compared. The difference between the hospitalization times of Group 1 and Group 2 was statistically significant (P < 0.001). The use of DL reduced the rate of unnecessary laparotomies from 60.7% to 0 in BAT and from 78.9% to 16.9% in PAT. The mean hospitalization time was 2.75 +/- 1.20 days in patients with negative DL, whereas it was 7.4 +/- 2.20 days and 5.2 +/- 1.42 days in DL-positive patients undergoing a therapeutic and nontherapeutic laparotomy, respectively. When the hospital costs of the Group 1 patients were compared with those of Group 2 patients, there was a 4.07-fold increase in patients undergoing therapeutic laparotomy and a 1.78-fold increase in patients undergoing nontherapeutic laparotomy. Diagnostic laparoscopy might be used in selected patients to exclude significant intra-abdominal injuries.