Small Bowel Resection, Enterolysis, and Enteroenterostomy

Abstract

Laparoscopic small bowel resection has been used for essentially all situations for which a small bowel resection might otherwise be done via celiotomy, where circumstances allow the favorable technical performance of the procedure using a laparoscopic approach. Specific indications include:

• 1. Inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s disease)

• 2. Diverticula

• 3. Ischemia or gangrenous segment of bowel

• 4. Obstructing lesions

• 5. Stricture (postradiation, postischemic, etc.)

• 6. Neoplasms (some controversy exists due to the concern about the appropriateness of laparoscopy for maximizing oncologic principles of resection of potentially curable malignant neoplasms, as with current concerns for colon carcinoma; these concerns stem from reports of port site tumor recurrences using this approach)