Force Required by Laparoscopic Trocar Devices to Penetrate the Human Female's Anterior Abdominal Wall

This study was carried out to compare the force(s) required to penetrate the anterior abdominal wall by two laparoscopic trocar systems: disposable and reusable. Both systems utilized pyramidal cutting obturators measuring 11 mm in diameter. Twenty women were randomly distributed between the 2 trocar systems with variables such as intraabdominal CO2 pressure, primary or secondary laparoscopy, body mass index, height, weight, age, and parity being matched for the 2 groups. A 25-lb (maximum) force transducer applied to the trocar handle was used to measure the force. Significant differences were observed in the force to penetrate (lbs), work done by the surgeon (lbs-sec), and time to penetrate (sec).