Immediate postoperative complications were 3 bowel lesions. Intestinal mobility was re-established in 1.8 days after operation and the mean duration of hospitalization was 5days for patients with laparoscopic procedure alone compared with 3.4 daysfor intestinal mobility and 10.4 days hospitalization for the 9 patients who were converted to laparotomy. An eventration of the trocar orifice occurred late in one patient and ischaemic stenosis of the bowel required laparotomy in another. There were no deaths. Laparoscopic treatment of adhesion occlusions is a feasible operation.
Morbidity is low in experienced hands.
The immediate benefit is rapid intestinal mobility and shorter hospita lstay. Thirty five patients, with less than three abdominal incisions, whohad undergone initial laparoscopy for acute small bowel obstruction, werereviewed. The small bowel was mobilized to determine the cause and site ofobstruction. In 31 cases, small bowel obstruction was caused by asingle or numerous obstructing bands. The first port should be inserted by open technique to avoid therisk of perforation of distented small bowel.