Staging laparoscopy in the management of intra-abdominal malignancies

Laparoscopy in the evaluation of intra-abdominal malignancies has become a debated issue. Proponents have claimed that it increases resectability rates, whereas opponents suggest that many patients require laparotomy regardless of the laparoscopic findings. The purpose of this study was to compare outcomes in patients undergoing staging laparoscopy versus those who were managed by initial exploratory laparotomy.

The medical records of all patients during an 18-month period who underwent surgical evaluation for upper gastrointestinal or hepatobiliary malignancies were reviewed. Forty-eight patients underwent staging laparoscopy (SL) initially; 80 patients underwent initial exploratory laparotomy (EL). Data obtained included type of cancer, laparoscopic findings, laparoscopic determination of resectability, laparoscopic procedures, open determination of resectability, open procedures, and length of stay (LOS). Statistical analysis was done by using Fisher exact test or the Mann-Whitney U test.

The malignancies of 75% of patients were deemed resectable by SL. Of these, 77.8% were resected. This compares to 56.3% resectability rate in the EL group (P = .025). SL findings in patients with unresectable malignancies were carcinomatosis (75%), liver metastasis (33.3%), and direct invasion (16.7%). In the 8 false-negative SLs, 75% were unresectable as a result of vascular invasion and 25% for other reasons. Findings in the EL group whose malignancies were unresectable were carcinomatosis (34.3%), direct invasion (22.6%), liver metastasis (42.9%), and vascular invasion only (17.1%). Therefore 82.9% of patients in the EL group could have been determined to have unresectable malignancy by SL. In the EL group 22.5% of the laparotomies were nontherapeutic, whereas 4.2% of patients in the SL group underwent nontherapeutic laparotomy. Average LOS for unresectable patients in the SL group was 0.5 days, with 75% discharged the same day of operation. This compares to 10.9 days in the EL group (P < .00001) and 7.6 days in the nontherapeutic EL group (P < .00001).

SL increases the resectability rate, decreases the nontherapeutic laparotomy rate, and decreases LOS in patients with unresectable disease. SL is poor at detecting unresectability as a result of vascular invasion only, but this accounts for less than one-fifth of patients. Laparoscopic sonography and palliation may further decrease the need for EL.