Worth of Laparoscopy in Undiagnosed Chronic Abdominal Pain: A Tertiary Care Center Study

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Chronic abdominal pain which is difficult to diagnose initially not only encumbers the patient but it also affectstheir daily routine, leading to physical and psychological disability, here comes the role of diagnostic laparoscopy which provesto be beneficial aiding in diagnosing most of these cases. Hence, the aim was to evaluate the diagnostic value of laparoscopyin cases with chronic abdominal pain.Materials and Methods: This study was done in the Department of General Surgery at Indira Gandhi Institute of Medicalsciences, Patna, Bihar, from July 2019 to March 2020 in 40 patients. Prior Institutional Ethical Committee approval was alsoobtained for this study.Results: Out of 40 patients included in this study, maximum number of patients were females. Male-to-female ratio was 11.4.The maximum number of patients were in the age group of 21–40 years (60%). Maximum patients 45% (n = 18) had complaintof pain in the right lower quadrant of abdomen. The most common finding during diagnostic laparoscopy was found to bepathology in the appendix accounting for 27.5% of cases (11/40).Conclusion: Diagnostic laparoscopy is a safe and effective tool to establish the etiology of chronic abdominal pain and allowsfor appropriate interventions. It can serve as a time saving and cost-effective implement for these patients.