Peritoneal and systemic inflammatory mediators of laparoscopic bowel injury in a rabbit model.

ABSTRACTPurpose: Unrecognized bowel injury following laparoscopy has a subtle and delayed clinical presentation compared with that after open surgery. We determined peritoneal and systemic immune function in laparoscopic and open bowel injury cases. We propose that laparoscopy does not activate immune responses to the same extent as open surgery.Materials and Methods: A total of 40 rabbits were divided into 4 groups. Two study groups were subjected to laparoscopic and open bowel injury, and 2 control groups underwent pneumoperitoneum and sham open surgery, respectively, without bowel injury. Animals were sacrificed 1 day, 3 days and 1 week postoperatively. Macroscopic and histological findings were analyzed. Peritoneal fluid, systemic white blood count (WBC) and differentials were done with a hemocytometer. Peritoneal fluid and serum interleukin (IL)-8 concentrations were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Results: Macroscopic and histological findings were indistinguishable in the 2 study grou...