Laparoscopic techniques in appendectomy with argon laser.

We used laparoscopic techniques to do appendectomies with the argon laser on 32 patients. The first two patients were hospitalized overnight, and the other 30 patients were treated as outpatients. All patients resumed normal activity within 7 days. All recoveries were uneventful and no complications developed. Diagnostic laparoscopy enables the surgeon to diagnose and treat abdominal pain more definitively and much earlier.