Comparative analysis of the diagnostic value of ultrasonography and laparoscopy in acute abdomen

: Patients with traumatic or non-traumatic acute abdomen, often exhibit difficulties in the assessment of the real intra-abdominal visceral compromise. This study intends to compare laparoscopy and ultrasonography in patients with non-traumatic or traumatic acute abdomen, in whom there is a doubt on the actual visceral compromise. Forty-five patients were studied in this protocol. Both procedures were performed in 28 and in 17 patients with non-traumatic or traumatic acute abdomen, respectively. The laparoscopic examination was shown to be superior to the ultrasound even when one subtracts from the ultrasound data all pathologies that involved bowel transit and the bowel wall such as the acute appendicitis and cases of pelvic inflammatory disease. The laparoscopic and ultrasound accuracy were 97.8% and 53%, respectively.