The use of laparoscopic ultrasonography in staging abdominal malignancy.

The merit of intraoperative ultrasonography in abdominal surgery has been recognized for several decades and has been well documented in the literature. With the proliferation of laparoscopic abdominal surgery, laparoscopic ultrasonographic technology rapidly developed and studies have confirmed its value in staging intra-abdominal malignancy. The combination of diagnostic laparoscopy and laparoscopic ultrasonography has been shown to be consistently superior to other preoperative imaging modalities in the staging of abdominal malignancy. Consequently there has been an improvement in the management of patients with abdominal malignancy, demonstrated by reductions in nontherapeutic laparotomies, improved resectability rates, and optimization of palliation. Copyright 2000 by W.B. Saunders Company