Laparotomy is basically a surgical procedure which involves a large incision in the abdomen to facilitate a procedure. While laparoscopy is a minimally invasive surgical procedure which sometimes referred as keyhole surgery as it uses a small incision.
As laparotomy is relatively straight forward as most surgeons been performing surgeries in this manner as it is reliable, safe and considered a shorter learning curve with ease to perform. Laparoscopy on the other hand is has more steep learning curve and has it limitation . But it is rewarding in the sense of cosmetic appearance , faster recovery, lower infection rate and less pain for the patient. Its limitation is due to expensive equipments , limited mobility of the surgeons or size of the disease and sometimes due to cancer which risks of spillage might disseminate the disease which makes the disease worse.
There is always a risk of changing the laparoscopy to laparotomy during procedure as sometime if there is technical difficulties or the procedure deem not be able to complete thoroughly during the laparoscopic procedure as sometime we might encounter huge tumours.
The Advantages of Laparoscopy
The advantages of laparoscopy procedure for patient is tremondous but deciding the mode of surgery must be decided carefully weighing the benefit and risk of the surgery with patients. And after careful discussions than we can proceed for the operation. In the end a favourable outcome is the utmost importance for surgery.
Article by Dr. Sundar Gugan Santhana Dass,
Visiting Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist.