Role of Laparoscopy in Abdominal Trauma

Background: The role of laparoscopy in abdominal trauma has increased in the last years in diagnosis as well as therapeutic interventions. It is a viable alternative for the diagnosis of intra-abdominal injury in both penetrating and blunt trauma. The number of negative laparotomies decreased since the use of laparoscopy in trauma patients. Methods: A retrospective study of twenty eight patients with abdominal trauma (22 penetrating trauma, 6 blunt trauma) were laparoscopic intervention done by general surgery department at Aljazeera Hospital for Orthopedic and Specialized Surgery from January 2017 to March 2019. All patients underwent clinical assessment and FAST-Scan, CT-scan done for twenty patients and unavailable for eight patients. All of the patients included for the research were stable with normal blood pressure. Results: In our series twenty-eight patients with abdominal trauma, 22 penetrating trauma (78.57%) all were shotgun injuries, and 6 blunt trauma (21.43%). In penetrating trauma therapeutic laparoscopy for seven patients (31.8%), diagnostic laparoscopy for 10 patients (45.5%), and negative laparoscopy for 5 cases (22.7%). In blunt trauma therapeutic laparoscopy for 2 cases (33.3%), diagnostic laparoscopy for 3 cases (50%), and negative laparoscopy for 1 case (16.7%). The rate of conversion to laparotomies was 8 cases (28.5%) for both penetrating and blunt trauma. Conclusion: Laparoscopy can be safely performed in hemodynamically stable patients with abdominal trauma for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes; also it helps to cut down the number of non-therapeutic laparotomies.