[Laparoscopy as an auxiliary aid in abdominal emergencies]

The authors present a prospective study of 159 diagnostic laparoscopy performed in patients about whom doubts existed about the actual visceral involvement after initial clinical and laboratory examination by the Surgical Staff on duty. Patients whose initial diagnosis was easily made were immediately submitted to surgery and were not examined by laparoscopy. The laparoscopic exam was shown to be able to diagnose a large number of acute intra-abdominal disturbances, whether or not traumatic, and to be efficient, with accuracy values of 97.4%. The exam also allowed to avoid 44.6% to unnecessary surgical procedures on patients with suspected non-traumatic acute abdomen, and 70% among those with suspicion of traumatic acute abdomen.