Gastrointestinal injuries during gynaecological laparoscopy

A retrospective case review study was carried out on gastrointestinal injuries which occur during gynaecological laparoscopy. Fifty-six patients with 62 gastrointestinal injuries were identified. One-third of the complications (32.2 %) occurred during the installation phase for laparoscopy. Four of the six complications attributed to electrosurgery were secondary to the use of monopolar coagulation. Diagnosis of these gastrointestinal injuries was made during surgery in only 20 patients (35.7%). The mean time before diagnosis was 4.0 +/- 5.4 (range 0-23) days. Treatment of these complications was performed by laparoscopic surgery in 16.1% of cases. Prevention relies on the surgeon's experience, strict observance of the safety rules, perfect familiarity with the physical properties of the instruments used, systematic use of bowel preparation for patients presenting a risk of bowel complications, systematic supervision of the route taken by the trocars, meticulous inspection on completion of surgery of all areas where bowel adhesiolysis has been used and, in case of any doubt, tests for leakage involving the rectosigmoid. For patients with a risk of bowel complications, the creation of a pneumoperitoneum and performing a mini laparoscopy in the left hypochondrium can be the judicious option.