What is Laparoscopy?
Laparoscopy is considered the gold standard in the diagnosis and treatment for a range of gynaecological conditions – being the most guaranteed method to accurately assess, diagnose and treat conditions at once.
Laparoscopy involves inserting a long tube with a tiny camera attached to its end inside your abdomen, where any abnormalities inside your pelvic region can be diagnosed and treated.
How Laparoscopy can be used to treat fertility issues
Laparoscopy is the gold standard when it comes to investigating fertility issues such as tubal patency. It offers multiple benefits as it can be used to both diagnose and treat infertility issues at the same time.
Laparoscopy can be used to check uterine cavities as well as optimise conditions for fertility. Therefore, women can experience higher pregnancy rates in the months after the procedure.
Operative laparoscopy is suitable for and commonly used to treat fertility or reproductive-related issues such as:
- Ovarian cysts
- Endometriosis
- Certain types of uterine fibroids
- Division of adhesions
- Remove blocked and diseased tubes – hydrosalpinges
- Remove ectopic pregnancy
- Investigating infertility and tubal patency check
Are there any risks with Laparoscopy?
Laparoscopy is a surgery that is only carried out by an experienced specialist and involves modern anaesthetic drugs that are safe and entail few risks in general. All surgeries carry a certain degree of risk, but with an experienced, reputable, and trusted doctor, the chances of complications should be very minimal.
Plus, laparoscopy leaves very minor scarring and indentations post-surgery (compared to more invasive procedures such as open surgery) which is good news for women who are concerned about the appearance of their belly area and want as little indentation or scarring as possible.
Laparoscopy also involves less treatment time and therefore faster recovery periods, minimising the chances of risks and complications. Women who undergo laparoscopy can also be able to quickly return back to their normal/working life as before.
Minor complications like wound infections are not uncommon but this can be easily treated with prescribed antibiotics.
One of the critical steps of laparoscopy is the entry where it can carry a risk of organ injury such as injury to the bowel or blood vessels. I use a modern optical entry technique, where the instrument is inserted under vision and significantly minimises and addresses this risk.
Overall, surgical complications are rare. To put things into perspective, I often like to explain to my patients the risks are like that of driving a car.
Everyone who steps into a car knows there is a slight risk of an accident while driving, but they put on their seatbelts and do everything they can to make sure nothing like that happens. It is the same with surgeries – especially those like laparoscopy which have little or minor chances of complications.
If there are any particular risks that are relevant to you, I’ll provide you with information about what special measures and precautions we can take together to even further reduce your risk.
Where to get help
If you believe that you may have endometriosis or are suffering from similar symptoms of endometriosis, my team and I are here to provide you with the best level of patient care and support.