title: Minimally invasive surgery in the diagnosis and treatment of abdominal pain in children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Children with abdominal pain sometimes require surgical intervention, and laparoscopy is increasingly the preferred approach for the diagnosis and treatment of both acute and chronic abdominal pain in children. This review describes the current state of the art and recent developments in the application of minimally invasive surgical techniques for the treatment of children with various abdominal pain syndromes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Laparoscopy provides distinct advantages over traditional open surgery, including less pain, shorter recovery and improved cosmesis. Cumulative experience and ongoing outcomes research continue to substantiate the safety and efficacy of the approach when applied thoughtfully and by experienced practitioners. In fact, as minimally invasive surgery is being applied to treat more wide-ranging disorders, it is becoming apparent that for many conditions laparoscopy should be adopted as the standard of care.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Recent advances in minimally invasive surgery have clearly benefited children with abdominal pain who need surgery, and as techniques improve and instruments get smaller we can expect this trend to continue into the future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and Pediatric General, Thoracic and Fetal Surgery, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 34th Street and Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. mattei@email.chop.edu
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mattei
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy