Welcome to the Meckel's Diverticulum Module. This ALL-SAFE module will allow surgeons to become confident and competent in the laparoscopic manipulation of small bowel and the identification of a Meckel’s diverticulum.
Why Meckel's Diverticulum?[edit | edit source]
Bowel resection (enterectomy) is one of the most common surgical procedures performed worldwide. The indications for bowel resection are numerous and include tumors, obstruction, inflammation, perforation, bleeding, and other small bowel lesions including Meckel’s diverticulum. In the low-resource setting, small bowel resection is performed through a midline laparotomy, a procedure with significant morbidity to patients.[1] The general benefits of laparoscopy over open surgery include decreased operation time, perioperative blood loss, length of stay, infection rate, and convalescence time and would translate to meaningful positive scalable gains in health outcomes, economics, and healthcare utilization for populations in the low resource setting. [1][2]
This module will teach the general technique for laparoscopic bowel exploration (“running the bowel” with identification of pathology of Meckel’s diverticulum). This essential skill set is applicable in any laparoscopic case where the small intestine is manipulated. As we begin to create our library of psychomotor skills that would be necessary in performing basic laparoscopic surgery, we felt that a module to teach the fundamental skillset of “running the bowel” was necessary before more advanced skills could be developed. We chose to house the education of these psychomotor skills in a clinical case of Meckel’s diverticulum since it is the most common congenital malformation of the gastrointestinal tract. The psychomotor aspects of this procedure could be applied to more advanced laparoscopic procedures including laparoscopic right and left colectomy, lysis of adhesions, and treatment of small bowel obstruction.
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Braga M, Vignali A, Gianotti L, Zuliani W, Radaelli G, Gruarin P, Dellabona P, Di Carlo V. Laparoscopic versus open colorectal surgery: a randomized trial on short-term outcome. Ann Surg. 2002 Dec;236(6):759-66; disscussion 767. doi: 10.1097/01.SLA.0000036269.60340.AE. PMID: 12454514; PMCID: PMC1422642.
- ↑ Rosenbaum AJ, Maine RG. Improving Access to Laparoscopy in Low-Resource Settings. Ann Glob Health. 85(1). doi:10.5334/aogh.2573