Definition

Diagnostic laparoscopy is a procedure that allows a health care provider to look directly at the contents of a patient's abdomen or pelvis, including the fallopian tubes, ovaries, uterus, small bowel, large bowel, appendix, liver, and gallbladder.

The purpose of this examination is to directly assess the presence of a problem that has not been confirmed through noninvasive tests. Inflammation of the gallbladder (cholecystitis), appendix (appendicitis), or pelvic organs (pelvic inflammatory disease) or tumors of the ovaries may be diagnosed laparoscopically.

Additionally, the health care provider may wish to exclude abdominal trauma following an accident by using laparoscopy rather than a large abdominal incision.

Major procedures to treat cancer, such as surgery to remove an organ, may begin with laparoscopy to exclude the presence of additional tumors (metastatic disease), which would change the course of treatment.