A STUDY OF DIAGNOSTIC LAPAROSCOPY IN CHRONIC ABDOMINAL PAIN
Chronic abdominal pains are amongst the abdominal conditions most difficult to manage. Chronic abdominal pain is a difficult complaint. 1 Most patients in this group would have already undergone many diagnostic procedures. Clearly, diagnostic laparoscopy is an important intermediate option between refusing to explore a patient’s abdomen and performing a laparotomy. This is a prospective study, done on patients admitted in General Surgery in Gandhi Hospital between August 2013 to September 2015. Our study of 84 patients with chronic pain abdomen showed a peak incidence of chronic pain abdomen in the third decade with female preponderance. Around 48 (57.14%) of patients in our study had undergone a previous surgery. The next most common finding at laparoscopy in our study was a normal study (13%). Recurrent appendicitis was our per operative diagnosis in 11.9% of our patients.
