Pelvic laparoscopy is a surgical procedure that examines and treats pelvic organs through a small surgical viewing instrument (laparoscope) inserted into the abdomen at the navel.

Celioscopy; Band-aid surgery; Pelviscopy

While you are deep asleep and pain-free under general anesthesia, the doctor makes a half-inch surgical cut in the skin below the navel. Carbon dioxide gas is pumped into the abdomen to help the doctor see the organs more easily.

The laparoscope, an instrument that looks like a small telescope on a flexible tube, is inserted so the doctor can view the area. Other instruments may be inserted through other small cuts in the lower abdomen to get tissue samples or do other procedures. After the laparoscopy, the carbon dioxide gas is released, and the surgeon closes the cuts with stitches.

Pelvic laparoscopy is used both for diagnosis and treatment. It may be recommended for:

• Diagnosing a woman who may have appendicitis or salpingitis
• Evaluating infertility
• Looking at and removing an abnormal pelvic mass found on abdominal ultrasound
• Pelvic pain due to:
  • Infections (pelvic inflammatory disease) that don't respond to drug therapy
  • Uterine tissue found outside the uterus in the abdomen (endometriosis)
  • Ovarian cyst
  • Scar tissue (adhesions) in pelvis
  • Suspected twisting (torsion) of an ovary
• Puncture (perforation) of the uterus after a D and C or by an IUD
• Removing the uterus (hysterectomy)
• Removing uterine fibroids (myomectomy)
• Sterilization (tubal ligation)
• Surgically treating a tubal pregnancy

Pelvic laparoscopy is not recommended for patients with:

• Severe obesity
• Severe adhesions in the pelvis from other surgeries

Katz VL, Lentz GM, Lobo RA, Gershenson DM. Comprehensive Gynecology. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Mosby; 2007.