LAPAROSCOPY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES IN THE MANAGEMENT OF PATIENTS WITH AN ACUTE ABDOMEN

Departments of Surgery and *Pathology, Jos University Teaching Hospital, Jos, Nigeria Correspondence to: Dr 6. C. Ogbonna Surgeons in developing countries see a need to improve diagnosis and decision making in patients with an acute abdomen. Without the benefit of diagnostic aids such as computers and high-resolution ultrasonography, the rate of unnecessary laparotomy is often unacceptably high. The laparoscope is usually available in a developing country and its use easily acquired. Using laparoscopy in doubtful situations the unnecessary laparotomy rate was signijkantly reduced from 14.0 to 6 per cent ( P < 0.05). Laparoscopy achieved a diagnostic accuracy of 86 per cent and prevented unnecessary laparotomy in 57 per cent of those in whom it was used.