Laparoscopic Ultrasound Examination: Analysis of Feasibility

Overview

This is a prospective cohort study to assess the feasibility of the laparoscopic ultrasound examination, directly by surgeons, during minimally invasive gynaecological surgery. The secondary aims are to examine the learning curve for laparoscopic ultrasound examination and the performance score in obtaining high quality ultrasound images of anatomical parameters by a team of 5 gynecological laparoscopic fellows. The patients' medical history and symptoms will also be recorded to define whether these clinical data can influence the failure rate. With advanced technology, the conventional workflow can be simplified by using laparoscopic ultrasound probes directly by surgeons, to utilize the hospital resources efficiently and to reduce operating times. In this regard, we would like to demonstrate that the application of laparoscopic examination is feasible and easy to learn by surgeons. This innovative technique could open up multiple diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities for the patient, providing potential clinical information useful to the surgeon.

The use of laparoscopic ultrasound is an evolving field with a potentially wide range of advantages that could facilitate complex gynecologic surgical procedures; increasing surgical safety by allowing the surgeon to see beyond the surface of the organ, visualizing anatomical structures and identifying, for example, retroperitoneal recurrences and benign or malignant pelvic lesions, even small and not visible laparoscopically, and consequently improving the surgical accuracy of tumor resection. (10) Gynecologists who are familiar with gynecological transvaginal ultrasound should be able to become proficient in identifying pelvic organs during surgical procedures in order to improve surgical accuracy, reduce complications, and ultimately improve patient care. Nevertheless, this technique has been slow to be implemented in the clinical setting, perhaps due to the lack of a learning curve. Therefore, training gynecological surgical fellows in recognizing pelvic structures using laparoscopic probes is critical for allows them to use this tool in different application fields, providing them with an important advantage. The training of gynecological surgeons in the use of laparoscopic probes would provide an advantage in terms of surgical time, speeding up the procedures of recognition and removal of target lesions. In addition, by making surgeons autonomous in the operating theatre, the need for an additional ultrasound operator during surgery would be eliminated. These benefits would translate into a potential reduction in cost as well