Cameraless Peritoneal Entry in Abdominal Laparoscopy

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Despite significant advances in laparoscopic instrumentation and techniques, injury to intraabdominal structures remains a potentially serious complication of peritoneal access. Consensus on the best method to obtain peritoneal access is lacking. A safe technique that does not rely on direct visualization of the abdominal layers could shorten the learning curve for surgeons and potentially be adopted by other physicians for a variety of nonsurgical indications for peritoneal entry. METHODS: A prospective series of 99 consecutive patients who underwent upper-abdominal laparoscopic surgery performed by a single surgeon between January 2009 and June 2010 was reviewed. The method used to obtain peritoneal access was the fluid-based peritoneal entry indication technique (C-PET) with the EndoTIP trocar. RESULTS: Successful abdominal entry using C-PET was achieved in 90 (90.9%) of the patients; no trocar-related injuries or other injuries associated with peritoneal access occurred. The mean time from incision to confirmed peritoneal access was 21.4 s (range, 12 to 65). Of the 9 cases in which C-PET did not successfully gain entry, 6 occurred during the first 20 surgeries and only 3 in the final 79. CONCLUSIONS: C-PET is simple, safe, timely, and effective for gaining peritoneal access during laparoscopic abdominal surgeries. In this series, C-PET produced no complications and proved effective across a wide variety of patients, including the obese and those who had had previous surgery. Furthermore, C-PET does not require visual recognition of anatomic layers and potentially could easily be taught to nonsurgeon physicians who perform peritoneal access.