Laparoscopic abdominal observation method without anesthesia for preventing unnecessary second-look procedures: short report.

Second-look operations after massive intestinal resections secondary to mesenterovascular occlusion are a frequent practice. In about one half of patients who undergo second-look procedures, no intraabdominal intervention is necessary. We present a laparoscopic abdominal observation method to prevent unnecessary laparotomies. In the first operation, two laparoscopic trocars, 5 and 10 mm in diameter, were left in the abdominal wall. After an appropriate time interval, the abdomen was explored laparoscopically through these trocars without anesthesia. If obvious intestinal gangrene and anastomotic leaks were observed laparoscopically, the patients were reoperated on while under general anesthesia; otherwise, the procedure was terminated with removal of the trocars. This method was performed on six patients. Unnecessary relaparotomies were prevented in four patients; intestinal gangrene and anastomotic leaks were not missed in the remaining two patients. A larger patient sample is needed to assess the advantages of this method in preventing unnecessary laparotomies.