Laparoscopic surgery has gained a wide acceptance, determining a review in many surgical dogmas. One of those dogmas is the apparent lack of postoperative ileus. The patterns and lhe difference between laparoscopic assisted colectomy and the traditional open colectomy, of colonic motility were determined experimentally. Ten, healthy, dogs, weighting 20 to 30 kg, were instrumented with bipolar electrodes. Each animal was instrumented with 8 bipolar recording electrodes, 4 on the small bowel and 4 on the colon. Dogs were allowed to recover for ten days, when baseline myoelectric recordings were obtained. Then, the dogs were randomized to open or laparocopic colectomy. Operations were carried out after an overnight fast, under sterile conditions and general anesthesia. Myoelectric recording resumed immediately following operations and was continued until the complete resolution of lhe postoperative ileus. None of lhe dogs received analgesics. There were no significant differences between the groups regarding the end of the colectomy and the first Migrating Myoelectric Complex (MMC), the end of the colectomies and the return of the phase lI, the time division between the end of the colectomies and the first Migrating Colonic Contraction, the end of the colectomies and the first Giant Migrating Colonic Contraction, and the relation between the end of the colectomy and the first evacuation. The authors concluded that laparoscopic assisted colectomy produces postoperative ileus and there was no difference between the groups, relating the period of time of recovery from postoperative paralytic ileus.
Ileus; Gastrointestinal motility; Migrating myoelectric complex; Colonic motility