Contribution of laparoscopy in young women with abdominal pain.

This study retrospectively evaluates the laparoscopic treatment of acute abdominal pain in 120 young girls aged 13 to 25 years from 1990 to 1995. Seventy-two (60%) of all operations were emergency procedures. Of these, 55 had functional ovarian cysts, eight patients were operated on for adnexal torsion and nine patients had other adnexal conditions. Ovarian cyst resection was performed in 46 patients and ovarian cyst coagulation in 17 patients. In the rest of the 48 patients (40%), 31 (26.67%) cases had pelvic inflammatory disease, three (2.5%) benign ovarian tumors, two (1.6%) ectopic pregnancies, one (0.8%) a paraovarian cyst and 11 (5%) endometriosis. Laparoscopy appeared to be a safe and effective surgical procedure.