Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Laparotomy
Summary
A laparotomy is a surgical procedure involving a surgical incision through the abdominal wall to gain access into the abdominal cavity. It is also known as a celiotomy.
The first successful laparotomy was performed without anesthesia by Ephraim McDowell in 1809 in Danville, Kentucky. On July 13, 1881, George E. Goodfellow treated a miner outside Tombstone, Arizona Territory, who had been shot in the abdomen with a .32-caliber Colt revolver. Goodfellow was able to operate on the man nine days after he was shot, when he performed the first laparotomy to treat a bullet wound.
The term comes from the Greek word λᾰπάρᾱ (lapara) 'the soft part of the body between the ribs and hip, flank' and the suffix -tomy, from the Greek word τομή (tome) '(surgical) cut'.
In diagnostic laparotomy (most often referred to as an exploratory laparotomy and abbreviated ex-lap), the nature of the disease is unknown, and laparotomy is deemed the best way to identify the cause.
In therapeutic laparotomy, a cause has been identified (e.g. colon cancer) and the operation is required for its therapy.
Usually, only exploratory laparotomy is considered a stand-alone surgical operation. When a specific operation is already planned, laparotomy is considered merely the first step of the procedure.
Depending on incision placement, laparotomy may give access to any abdominal organ or space, and is the first step in any major diagnostic or therapeutic surgical procedure of these organs, which include:
the digestive tract (the stomach, duodenum, jejunum, ileum and colon)
the liver, pancreas, gallbladder, and spleen
the bladder
the male prostate
the female reproductive organs (the uterus and ovaries)
the retroperitoneum (the kidneys, the aorta, abdominal lymph nodes)
Surgical Incisions
The most common incision for laparotomy is a vertical incision in the middle of the abdomen which follows the linea alba.
The upper midline incision usually extends from the xiphoid process to the umbilicus.
A typical lower midline incision is limited by the umbilicus superiorly and by the pubic symphysis inferiorly.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Ontological neighbourhood
Related publications (8)
Material surface detection on various body parts: a preliminary study for temperature substitution for upper arm amputees
Silvestro Micera, Solaiman Shokur
Experiments have shown that healthy subjects can detect materials solely relying on the material's thermal properties at their fingertip. We are interested in developing a non-invasive temperature display for sensory substitution for patients with arm ampu ...
IEEE2021Related concepts (16)
Surgical incision
In surgery, a surgical incision is a cut made through the skin and soft tissue to facilitate an operation or procedure. Often, multiple incisions are possible for an operation. In general, a surgical incision is made as small and unobtrusive as possible to facilitate safe and timely operating conditions. Surgical incisions are planned based on the expected extent of exposure needed for the specific operation planned. Within each region of the body, several incisions are common.
Hysterectomy
Hysterectomy is the partial or total surgical removal of the uterus. It may also involve removal of the cervix, ovaries (oophorectomy), fallopian tubes (salpingectomy), and other surrounding structures. Partial hysterectomies allow for hormone regulation while total hysterectomies do not. Usually performed by a gynecologist, a hysterectomy may be total (removing the body, fundus, and cervix of the uterus; often called "complete") or partial (removal of the uterine body while leaving the cervix intact; also called "supracervical").
Laparoscopy
Laparoscopy () is an operation performed in the abdomen or pelvis using small incisions (usually 0.5–1.5 cm) with the aid of a camera. The laparoscope aids diagnosis or therapeutic interventions with a few small cuts in the abdomen. Laparoscopic surgery, also called minimally invasive procedure, bandaid surgery, or keyhole surgery, is a modern surgical technique. There are a number of advantages to the patient with laparoscopic surgery versus an exploratory laparotomy.