ISSN: 2044-9038 (Print) 2044-9046 (Electronic)

Clinical Practice

Laparotomy.

 A laparotomy is a surgical process involving a large incision through the abdominal wall to increase access into the abdominal cavity. The first successful laparotomy was achieved without anesthesia by Ephraim McDowell in 1809 in Danville, Kentucky. On July 13, 1881, Dr. George E. Goodfellow preserved a miner outside Tombstone, Arizona Territory, who had been shot in the abdomen with a .32-caliber Colt revolver. Goodfellow was able to function on the man nine days after he was shot when he did the first laparotomy to treat a bullet wound. The term rises from the Greek word λá¾°πάρá¾± ("lapara"), denotation "the soft part of the body between the ribs and hip, flank,"[2] and the suffix "-tomy" arising from the Greek word "τομή" meaning "a (surgical) cut." In diagnostic laparotomy (most often referred to as an exploratory laparotomy and abbreviated ex-lap), the nature of the disease is unknown, and laparotomy is deemed the finest way to classify the cause. In therapeutic laparotomy, a cause has been recognized (e.g. colon cancer) and the operation is compulsory for its therapy.Usually, only exploratory laparotomy is considered a stand-alone surgical operation. When a specific operation is already deliberate, laparotomy is considered simply the first step of the procedure. 

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