References
Abstract
Laparoscopic surgery has benefitted from many technical advances, achieving better results and reduced complications in comparison to conventional surgical techniques. Specialist equipment has been developed to better aid the minimally invasive approach, allowing for more precision, becoming a method of choice for biopsy. It is of particular value in patients where the sites are small or present in locations unsuitable for image-guided biopsy, or where adequate tissue cannot be obtained by image-guided biopsy. Laparoscopy has been proven to offer several benefits to the patient both intraoperatively and postoperatively, therefore, it can be said that laparoscopy provides a safe and effective means of obtaining biopsies in small animal practice.
Laparoscopic surgery, also commonly referred to as minimally invasive surgery or ‘key-hole’ surgery, has been one of the fastest growing methods of modern surgery. In the last 10 years, it has awakened great interest among veterinarians owing to the reported advantages for patients; including, but not limited to, minimised surgical trauma, real therapeutic safety and faster recovery (Devitt et al, 2005; Culp et al, 2009). The modern age of laparoscopy in human medicine boomed in the late 1980s, although in veterinary medicine, the same paradigm shift to the minimally invasive approach in soft tissue surgery has yet to occur (Wildt and Lawler, 1985). Some evidence exists in veterinary patients to support the hypothesis that approaches like laparoscopy decrease the severity or incidence of surgical morbidities compared to open surgery (Davidson et al, 2004; Hancock et al, 2005). However, in veterinary medicine, the field of laparoscopy is still very much in its infancy, and further evidence-based randomised studies are required (Mayhew, 2011a).
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