[Emergency minimally invasive surgery]

In the last two years 203 patients underwent minimally invasive surgery for thoracic and abdominal emergencies. Thoracic and abdominal surgical exploration was performed for acute disease and blunt traumas except gunshots. Early open surgery was performed to avoid intraoperative problems and to minimize anesthesiological overtime with a minimally invasive/open surgery ratio of 23% (46 patients). Bleeding, adhesions and visceral damage proved the most frequent causes of open surgery conversion. Nine patients underwent laparotomy for postoperative complications while in 4 patients another minimally invasive procedure was performed. Five patients showed spontaneous recovery of postoperative complications. Minimally invasive procedures are useful as diagnostic and therapeutic procedure in many acute diseases with a shorter hospitalization than open surgery.