Reoperative considerations after laparoscopic pelvic surgery

Laparoscopic surgery has been associated with a number of positive outcomes for the patient: decreased pain, improved cosmesis, shorter hospital stays, and quicker returns to work or baseline activity. Laparoscopic pelvic surgery is technically complex, but utilized more and more frequently as surgeons ascend the learning curve of laparoscopic surgery. Minimally invasive abdominal surgery is major surgery, with all the inherent risks and complications that are seen in open surgery, plus a few complications unique to laparoscopic surgery. The laparoscopic pelvic surgeon needs to recognize the complications, identify those requiring reoperation, and know the best practices for management of those complications. The focus of this chapter is the laparoscopic management of surgical complications in the early postoperative period, which we define as within 30 days of initial surgery.