Laparoscopic versus open surgery for adnexal tumor in pregnant women

Objective: To investigate the surgical and obstetric outcomes after adnexal surgery during pregnancy, focusing on the comparison between laparotomic and laparoscopic approaches. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical charts for women who underwent surgery for adnexal mass or torsion during pregnancy between November 1991 and November 2011. Results: In a total of 152 women, the mean gestational age at surgery was 14.8 ± 4.1 weeks, and most operations were performed at second trimester (64.5%). Adnexal torsion was detected in 27 patients (17.8%), and malignant pathology was confirmed in four patients (2.6%). Among 111 patients who were followed up until delivery, postoperative adverse outcomes were observed in only two patients (1.8%) with miscarriage and 16 patients (14.4%) with preterm labor. Comparison between the laparotomy (118 patients, 77.6%) and laparoscopy (34 patients, 22.4%) groups showed that the latter had a shorter postoperative hospital stay and better surgical outcome than the former (5.9 ± 2.5 days vs. 2.4 ± 0.7 days, p