[Incidence of intra-abdominal adhesions following pelviscopy and laparotomy]

In 500 non-selected conservative pelviscopic operations the incidence of the presence of intraabdominal adhesions were compared in patients having had no previous operations, those having had a previous pelviscopy, those having had a previous pelviscopy and laparotomy, and those having had a previous laparotomy alone. The group of patients having undergone no previous operations were found to have the least amount of adhesions followed by those having undergone pelviscopy alone. The highest percentage of intraabdominal adhesions were found in the group of patients having undergone a previous laparotomy. This was also true for patients having undergone a previous pelviscopy and laparotomy. The rate of endometriosis and PID however, in this group was much lower than that of the group having undergone pelviscopy alone. Operative procedures having an equal efficacy whether performed per pelviscopy or laparotomy should therefore be performed per pelviscopy in order to reduce operative trauma and the subsequent post operative formation of adhesions.