The dilemma of incidental findings in abdominal surgery: A cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION: Despite the recent development in diagnostic techniques, many surgeons experience unexpected findings during the course of surgery. We aim to examine the incidence of all IFs in abdominal surgery -laparoscopy or laparotomy- and identify possible associations. METHODS: This study is a cross-sectional study conducted in Aleppo University Hospital - Department of Surgery. We collected patients' data who underwent abdominal surgery during the period of the two-consecutive years 2018–2019. RESULTS: The data revealed detection of incidental findings during abdominal surgery -which included proper inspection of peritoneal cavity-in 6 out 543 cases (1.1%), whereas only one case included a misdiagnosis event (0.2%). CONCLUSION: Epidemiological information about IFs in abdominal surgery can be extremely useful for the surgeons on various aspects, and can assist them with being more prepared for the surgery and the possible unexpected lesions that might be encountered. We strongly recommend that further studies with larger numbers of participants are conducted as they can provide more generalizable data.