Frequency of Incidental Findings on Diagnostic Laparoscopy in Patients Undergoing Elective Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

Objective: To determine the frequency of incidental findings on diagnostic laparoscopy in patients undergoing elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy at tertiary care hospital Jamshoro. Study design: This is a descriptive cross sectional study. Setting: Study carried out at department of general surgery, Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences (LUMHS) Jamshoro from 1st February 2019 to 30th July 2019. Materials and methods: A total of 164 patients of both gender undergoing diagnostic laparoscopy in patients of laparoscopic cholecystectomy were included in the study. Laparoscopy was done under general anesthesia in all patients. The whole of peritoneal cavity was sequentially visualized using trendelenberg and reverse trendelenberg positions, and right or left tilt as required. Results: Age range in this study was from 20 to 79 years with mean age of 43.622 +/- 9.31 years. 40.2% patients were of male gender and 59.8% patients were females. Peritoneal band & adhesions was seen in 9.8% patients, Ovarian Cyst 5.5%, Abdominal Tuberculosis 19.5% and Gall Bladder Carcinoma was 3%. Conclusion: We conclude that laparoscopy is very safe, can obviate the need for a full exploratory laparotomy & minimize the surgical trauma in chronically ill patients.