Laparoscopy in adnexal pathology in the child: a study of 28 cases

We report our experience with laparoscopy in adnexal pathology in the child. Twenty-eight children (mean age 13 years; range 8 to 16) underwent 30 laparoscopy procedures. Therapeutic laparoscopy was performed in 3 cases: transposition of an ovary before radiotherapy, bilateral gonadal excision for Turner's syndrome and ovarian fixation after contralateral torsion of normal adnexa (TNA). Diagnostic and potentially therapeutic laparoscopy was performed in 25 cases: 12 suspected torsion of adnexa (6 confirmed), 4 possible ovarian or appendicular pathology (1 appendicitis), 4 to confirm the histological nature of an ovarian tumor (2 functional cysts, 1 old TNA, 1 dermoid cyst), 3 suspected salpingitis (2 confirmed), and 2 chronic pelvic pain (1 endometriosis). No pathology was found in 2 cases, and in 1 case pelvic adhesions prevented confirmation of the diagnosis. Thirteen laparoscopically-guided surgical acts were performed: 2 detorsions of adnexa, 2 excisions of necrosed adnexa and 9 punctures with or without biopsy for functional cysts. Intralaparoscopic detorsion of TNA was complicated in one case by fibrinolysis requiring secondary laparotomy. Mean hospitalisation was 3 days (range 1 to 16). the preferential therapeutic indications for laparoscopy in the child are transposition of an ovary and ablation of the gonads in case of sexual ambiguity. It is used diagnostically in cases of sudden pelvic pain. In addition to this diagnostic role, it now allows most treatments to be carried out (detorsion with or without fixation, transparietal cystectomy), including those for associated lesions (appendicectomy). Its morbidity is quite low, which warrants increasing the number of indications in pediatric pathology.