Laparoscopy in the diagnosis of acute lower abdominal pain

Laparoscopy was performed on twenty-seven hospital inpatients presenting with acute lower abdominal pain. Nineteen of the twenty-seven were admitted with a provisional diagnosis of appendicitis. Following laparoscopy, nine patients underwent appendicectomy, and a further three underwent laparotomy. Fifteen patients had a laparoscopy as the sole procedure, and all were discharged from hospital without need for further surgery. Of those patients in the operative group, five had their proposed incisions modified as the result of the laparoscopic findings. The only complications attributable to laparoscopy was one small wound haematoma.