Emerging role of Laparoscopy in females presenting with lower abdominal pain in our setup

Abstract

Background: Lower abdominal pain in females carries a long list of differentials and at times it becomes very difficult to reach a definitive diagnosis even after all investigation. In such cases, Laparoscopy becomes an important tool as it serves as diagnostic as well as therapeutic strategy. Aim: To evaluate the role of laparoscopy for the diagnostic management in females, presenting with lower abdominal pain in our department. Methods: This retrospective study was done at the Department of Surgery,.In this study, all the female patients of age>12 years, presenting with lower abdominal pain were included. Complete record of these patients was obtained and findings of Laparoscopic surgery were noted in a preformed proforma. All the data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 in this study. Results: A total of 83 cases were included in the study. Most of the patients in this study were in the age group of 18-30 years 51(61.4%). The mean age of patients in his study was found as 33.47 years (Range being 13-59 years). Most common diagnosis found per-operatively was acute appendicitis, followed by ovarian cyst and pelvic inflammatory disease. Fifteen patients had no specific preoperative diagnosis and in them Laparoscopy was performed as a diagnostic procedure. In 5 of these patient, diagnosis made was PID, acute appendicitis (n=5) and adhesion formation (n=1). When compared to the pre-operative and per-operative diagnoses, it was found that pre-operative diagnosis was not established in 7 cases, where definitive diagnosis was changed and patients were managed as per-operative findings. Conclusion: Laparoscopy is a good and nice tool for the diagnosis among female patients having lower abdominal pain, particularly for those cases where diagnosis is in doubt. It is easy to perform and may be used as routine procedure even developing countries like us as a diagnostic tool.