Elective diagnostic laparoscopy

What is the role of diagnostic laparoscopy in a gastroenterology unit?

“…1 The diagnostic value of laparoscopy in the diagnosis of widespread liver diseases has been well assessed, and diagnostic laparoscopy guides hepatologists in the evaluation of chronic liver disease. 2,3 Diagnostic laparoscopy is still the procedure of choice in the evaluation of patients with ascites of unknown origin. 4,5 However, its usefulness has been questioned, particularly with the development of less invasive radiographic techniques such as ultrasonography (US), computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).…”

Laparoscopic surgery for cancer patients

“…[13][14][15] It is a less invasive alternative to laparotomy for staging of intraabdominal malignancies.…”

Laparoscopic approach to fever of unknown origin

“…Although exploratory laparotomy is rarely necessary, at the time of laparotomy, most patients with FUO are in bad general condition, resulting in high operative risk for wound complications such as infection, seroma, and healing failure [4,8,9,11,12,17,18]. Several studies using diagnostic laparoscopy for the management of lymphoproliferative diseases have been published [1,11,15,17,18,20], but few have focused on FUO. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the feasibility, risk, diagnostic success rate, and complications of protocolized laparoscopy in a series of 15 patients with persistent and undiagnosed FUO.…”