The impact of laparoscopy on emergency surgery for adhesional small bowel obstruction: prospective single centre cohort study

INTRODUCTION Laparoscopic adhesiolysis is increasingly being used to treat adhesional small bowel obstruction (ASBO) as it has been associated with reduced postoperative length of stay (LOS) and faster recovery. However, concerns regarding limited working space, iatrogenic bowel injury and failure to relieve the obstruction have limited its uptake. This study reports our centre's experience of adopting laparoscopy as the standard operative approach. METHODS A single-centre prospective cohort study was performed incorporating local data from the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit Database; January 2015 to December 2019. All patients undergoing surgery for ASBO were included. Patient demographic, operative and inhospital outcomes data were compared between different surgical approaches. Linear regression analysis was performed for LOS. RESULTS A total of 299 cases were identified. Overall, 76.3% of cases were started laparoscopically and 52.2% were completed successfully. Patients treated laparoscopically had lower Portsmouth - Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enuMeration of Mortality and morbidity (P-POSSUM) predicted mortality (median 2.1 (interquartile range (IQR) 1.3-5.0) vs 5.7 (IQR 2.0-12.4), p=<0.001) and shorter postoperative LOS compared with open (median 4.2 days (IQR 2.5-8.2) vs 11.3 days (IQR 7.3-16.6), p=0.000). Inhospital mortality was lower in the laparoscopic group (2 vs 7 deaths, p=<0.001). In regression analysis, laparoscopic surgery was found to have the strongest association with postoperative LOS (β -8.51 (-13.87 to -3.16) p=0.002) compared with open surgery. CONCLUSIONS Laparoscopy is a safe and feasible approach for adhesiolysis in the majority of patients with ASBO. It is associated with reduced LOS with no impact on complications or mortality.