• Daniel C Barzana, Cyrus A Kotwall, Thomas V Clancy, and William W Hope.
• South East Area Health Education Center, Department of Surgery, New Hanover Regional Medical Center, Wilmington, North Carolina, USA.
• JSLS. 2011 Apr 1; 15 (2): 179-81.

Background And ObjectivesEnthusiasm for the use of laparoscopy in trauma has not rivaled that for general surgery. The purpose of this study was to evaluate our experience with laparoscopy at a level II trauma center.MethodsA retrospective review of all trauma patients undergoing diagnostic or therapeutic laparoscopy was performed from January 2004 to July 2010.ResultsLaparoscopy was performed in 16 patients during the study period. The average age was 35 years. Injuries included left diaphragm in 4 patients, mesenteric injury in 2, and vaginal laceration, liver laceration, small bowel injury, renal laceration, urethral/pelvic, and colon injury in 1 patient each. Diagnostic laparoscopy was performed in 11 patients (69%) with 3 patients requiring conversion to an open procedure. Successful therapeutic laparoscopy was performed in 5 patients for repair of isolated diaphragm injuries (2), a small bowel injury, a colon injury, and placement of a suprapubic bladder catheter. Average length of stay was 5.6 days (range, 0 to 23), and 75% of patients were discharged home. Morbidity rate was 13% with no mortalities or missed injuries.ConclusionsLaparoscopy is a seldom-used modality at our trauma center; however, it may play a role in a select subset of patients.

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