Although not widely used for the treatment of intestinal obstruction, laparoscopic surgery may be associated with a significantly shorter hospital stay than open intervention, according to a retrospective analysis of small bowel obstruction cases over 11 years.
The study, published in Surgical Endoscopy, involved more than 24,000 emergent small bowel obstruction cases between 2005 and 2015, from the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP). It found that patients who underwent