Laparoscopy.

The laparoscope is a long, thin tube with a light source and an optical system. Ancillary instruments can allow a physician to perform procedures through the same incision, or sometimes a second incision. After distending the abdomen with gas, a sheath is inserted into the abdomen, and the telescope is placed within the sheath. Laparoscopy can be used for diagnostic purposes as well as surgical, and the most common operation performed is tubal ligation for sterilization. Other operative procedures that can be performed with the laparoscope are removal of adhesions or foreign bodies, drainage of cysts, and burning or elimination of small amounts of endometriosis. Postoperative effects include reactions to the gas or bloody discharge following a D&C. Properly used, laparoscopy has a great deal to offer patients and their physicians as an uncomplicated approach to diagnosis and/or therapy.