• Laparoscopic Complications
• Wrong Site Surgery

Common Complications Of Laparoscopic Surgery

Our results demonstrate our committment to helping our clients recover financial compensation to help families heal from an injury or wrongful death at the hands of a negligent act. If you or a loved one has suffered personal injury as the result of negligence, malpractice or carelessness, contact our Missouri personal injury lawyers online or call 314.621.0622 (toll free 877.621.0622) to schedule a FREE consultation and learn how the law can help you recover financial damages for your injuries.Over the years, laparoscopic surgery has gained in popularity with not just patients, but with insurance companies as well. This popularity was gained as a result of the many benefits of laparoscopic surgery:

• Shorter recovery time
• Shorter hospital stay
• Lack of visible incision

While the benefits of laparoscopic surgery make it a very popular choice when facing surgery, it must be noted that laparoscopic surgery is much more surgically demanding for the surgeon. That being said, the selection of the laparoscopic surgeon must be done with care. Also, there are risks associated with laparoscopic surgery that are unique to laparoscopic surgery, and may not be risks if the same procedure was done via traditional open general surgery.

History of Laparoscopic Surgery
Laparoscopic surgery was initially developed by gynecologists in the 1960s. Used as a diagnostic tool, laparoscopic surgery eventually evolved to include minor surgical procedures, including fertility surgery. In the last five years, laparoscopic surgery has grown to include surgery of the appendix, colon, stomach, kidney and liver.

Considering the Experience of the Surgeon
Studies have shown that most laparoscopic surgery complications occur with surgeons inexperienced in this procedure. Consider this: according to studies, physicians who have performed less than 100 laparoscopic surgeries reported 14.7 complications per 1000 patients. Conversely, experienced surgeons reported a complication rate of only 3.8 per 1000 patients. Another study showed that with surgeons who had performed fewer than 13 laparoscopic procedures, the incidence of bile duct injury was 2.2%. With more experienced surgeon, the incidence of bile duct injury dropped to 0.1%.

Certain conditions make laparoscopic surgery a bad choice. Some of these conditions include:

• Severe congestive heart failure
• Respiratory insufficiency
• Presence of a distended bowel
• Previous laparotomy incisions
• Patients with cardiac disease or COPD
• Patients with numerous previous abdominal surgery
• Old age

Complications of Laparoscopic Surgery
Like all surgical procedures, laparoscopic surgery is not without its risks. Following is a list of possible complications of laparoscopic surgery:

Infection
Even though laparoscopic surgery is less invasive than open surgery, studies have shown that this is still the most common complication. Causes of these infections could stem from equipment sterilization and the operating room itself, or from bowel injury or perforation.

Weeping Peritoneum
The peritoneum is a thin membrane that lines the abdominal and pelvic cavity. Carbon dioxide, which is used to inflate the abdominal cavity during a laparoscopic surgical procedure, has been known to irritate this membrane and can lead to peritonitis.

Incisional Bowel Herniation
Hernias have been found to occur when laparoscopic surgery is conducted using ports 10 mm or larger, especially if these incision sites are not adequately closed after surgery. Also, studies have shown that even when the port used was only 5 mm, due to manipulation during surgery, the incision site may enlarge.

Gastro-Intestinal Tract Injury
This can occur during the introduction of the needle used during laparoscopic surgery to the abdominal cavity. If this occurs, surgical repair will be done accordingly, and a broad spectrum antibiotics will be given.

Blood Bessel Injury
This injury is difficult to prevent because it is impossible to identify the sites of all blood vessels before the insertion of the needle used. At higher risk are children and thin patients. In the event of bleeding, a thorough search must be done to ensure all injuries are addressed. Failure to do so may result in continued bleeding, the formation of a hematoma, and even shock.

Gas Embolism
If a blood vessel is penetrated, and the penetration is undetected, the CO2 gas could enter the blood stream and lead to death.

Complications of the Distension Medium
CO2 is commonly used and favored because of its highly soluble nature. In the case of a gas embolism, the patient responds quickly to treatment. Nitrous oxide (N2O) is gaining in popularity because there are less side effects than CO2. However, N2O has another side effect: it is combustible. If methane gas is a evident because of a bowel injury, the current used during laparoscopic surgery may cause an explosion.

Injury to Vessels in the Abdominal Wall
Some superficial bleeding may happen which is handled with the application of pressure. This is of little concern. What is more serious is bleeding from a puncture to the deep inferior epigastric artery. When this happens, blood may be seen spurting across the abdominal cavity. Depending on the severity of the situation, it may be necessary to open the wound site larger to locate and treat the artery.

Injury to an Intra-Abdominal Vessel
Depending on how the patient is positioned during surgery, a small leak may not be immediately apparent. Because of this, it is essential for the inspection of all major vessels and a search for any possible hematoma is conducted at the conclusion of any laparoscopic procedure.

Bowel Injury
This can range in severity from a superficial nick to through-and-through penetration. This is a very serious injury, and must be attended to immediately by a skilled surgeon and followed up with antibiotic therapy. Failure to treat a bowel injury of this nature can result in deadly fecal peritonitis.

Thermal Injury
Electric current is used as a cauterization method during laparoscopic procedures. A return place is normally placed on the patient's leg to minimize any injury to surrounding organs. Sometimes, the escape route for the current is blocked by a variety of conditions, and this may cause injury.

Our results demonstrate our committment to helping our clients recover financial compensation to help families heal from an injury or wrongful death at the hands of a negligent act. If you or a loved one has suffered personal injury as the result of negligence, malpractice or carelessness, contact our Missouri personal injury lawyers online or call 314.621.0622 (toll free 877.621.0622) to schedule a FREE consultation and learn how the law can help you recover financial damages for your injuries.

The Missouri Injury Attorneys of Millikan Wright LLC focus serving the needs of the greater St. Louis Metropolitan area. On the Missouri side, our lawyers represent people injured in St. Louis city, St. Louis county, Jefferson county, Franklin county, St. Charles county, and Lincoln county. On the Illinois side, our attorneys represent people hurt in Madison county, St. Clair county and Monroe county.