Introduction:

within laparoscopic surgeries, an incidence of bowel injury at the time of access has been estimated at 0.5% and injury to major blood vessels at 1%. Theoretical benefits of the optical trocar include early recognition of lesions under the assumption of improved visibility.

Objective:

to determine whether the optical trocar is a safer laparoscopic access method than the direct trocar, Veress needle, and Hasson open technique.

Material and methods:

observational, prospective, four-arm cohort of women from the gynaecology and laparoscopic surgery department of the Hospital Angeles Pedregal. The number of attempts and time to achieve cavity access and the presence of complications were quantified.

Results:

192 laparoscopic surgeries were observed, distributed by consecutive cases in 4 arms: (90 Veress, 13 Hasson, 14 direct trocar, and 75 optical). Optical trocar showed an advantage in both access time and complication frequency. The number of attempts to enter the cavity was similar to the open technique.

Conclusion:

The data obtained in this study support the optical trocar cavity access technique as a safer method than the other techniques.