The role of diagnostic laparoscopy in gynecology: O papel da laparoscopia diagnóstica em ginecologia

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVES: Laparoscopy is a diagnostic method that is currently becoming consolidated for therapeutic use. It consists of endoscopically viewing the abdominal cavity. The aim here was to evaluate the indications for diagnostic videolaparoscopy and the intraoperative findings in an endoscopic gynecology clinic at a tertiary-level hospital over the last five years. DESIGN AND SETTING: Retrospective descriptive study on all diagnostic videolaparoscopy procedures of the last five years carried out in the endoscopic gynecology clinic of a tertiary-level hospital. METHODS: The medical records of 618 women who underwent diagnostic laparoscopy between 2008 and 2012 were analyzed. The clinical characteristics of these women, the indications for videolaparoscopy and the intraoperative findings were evaluated. RESULTS: The women’s mean age was 32 ± 6.4 years. Most of the women had already undergone at least one previous operation (60%), which was most frequently a cesarean. The indications for performing videolaparoscopy were infertility in 57%, chronic pelvic pain in 27% and others (intrauterine device, adnexal tumor, ectopic pregnancy or pelvic inflammatory disease) in 16%. The main laparoscopic findings were tubal alterations in the group with infertility (59.78%) and peritoneal alterations in the group with chronic pelvic pain (43.54%). CONCLUSION: The main indications for videolaparoscopy in gynecology were infertility and chronic pelvic pain. However, in most procedures, no abnormalities justifying these complaints were found.