Effectiveness of laparoscopy in management of patients with penetrating and blunt abdominal trauma.

Abstract

Objectives: To study the role of laparoscopy in reducing the incidence of non-therapeutic Laparotomies in abdominal trauma, and management of penetrating (PAT) and blunt (BAT) abdominal trauma. Study Design: Prospective Experimental study. Setting: Department of Surgery DHQ Hospital Rawalpindi. Period: January 2018 to June 2018. Material & Methods: All Patients (n=50) were admitted through emergency and were allocated to one of two groups Laparoscopy or Laparotomy group (25 in each) by lottery method according to the inclusion criteria of haemodynamically stable patients with systolic BP>90 mm of Hg. Patients in the Laparotomy group were managed according to the conventional protocol and decision of laparotomy was based on clinical examination, imaging and laboratory investigations. Where as in Laparoscopy group after clinical examination and chemical labortary. Reports diagnostic laparoscopy (screening tool) was done to identify injuries and decide whether patient needs laparotomy or not. Forward viewing 0 degree 10 mm laparoscope was used in all the cases following standard protocols for laparoscopy. Data analysis was done by SPSS 20. P-Value was set at 0.05. Results: Out of total 50 selected haemodynamically stable abdominal trauma patients (n=50) there were 77% males and 23% females. Average age of the patients was 37 years. Overall out of total of 50 patients 30 (60%) patients presented with PAT and 20 (40%) patients presented with BAT. Diagnostic laparoscopy was able to identify abdominal injuries in 96% (24 out of 25) patients. There were no missed injuries in both groups. Similarly there were no non-therapeutic laparotomies in Laparoscopy group where as in Laparotomy group 6 (24%) non-therapeutic laparotomies were done. Conclusion: Laparoscopy reduces the incidence of non-therapeutic laparotomies and missed injuries. It correctly identifies the injuries depending upon the experience of surgeon in selected stable trauma patients.