Complications of laparoscopy--operative and diagnostic.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the characteristics and rates of complications for operative laparoscopy and diagnostic laparoscopy.

DESIGN

Retrospective review.

SETTING

Tertiary-care university hospital.

PATIENTS: Two thousand three hundred twenty-four patients undergoing operative laparoscopy or diagnostic laparoscopy.

INTERVENTIONS: Operative laparoscopy including lysis of adhesions, tubal surgery, ovarian surgery, uterine surgery, or destruction of endometriosis.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Complication rates for operative and diagnostic laparoscopies were tabulated and compared.

RESULTS

The overall major complication rate for this series of 2,324 laparoscopies was 0.22%. There were five major and 15 minor complications. In the operative laparoscopy group, there were more complications from Veress needle and trocar insertion (n = 15) than from the actual operative procedures (n = 3). There were more total complications in the operative laparoscopy group (n = 18) than in the diagnostic laparoscopy group (n = 3).

CONCLUSION

Operative laparoscopy is efficacious for a variety of gynecologic surgical procedures.