Systematic review of oxidative stress associated with pneumoperitoneum.
BACKGROUND
There have been several reports of ischaemic complications after routine laparoscopy. The aim of this review was to investigate the relationship between this oxidative stress and pneumoperitoneum.


METHODS
Medline, Medline in-process, The Cochrane Library, PubMed and EMBASE were searched for papers on oxidative stress and pneumoperitoneum, from 1947 to March 2008 with no language restriction or restriction on trial design. Papers that did not investigate pneumoperitoneum as a causative factor, or did not report outcome measures related to oxidative stress, were excluded.


RESULTS
A total of 73 relevant papers were identified: 36 animal studies, 21 human clinical trials, nine case reports, five review articles and two comments. Pneumoperitoneum causes a reduction in splanchnic blood flow, resulting in biochemical evidence of oxidative stress in a pressure- and time-dependent manner. There is evidence that the use of carbon dioxide for insufflation is contributory. Several measures proposed to minimize the oxidative stress have shown promise in animal studies, but few have been evaluated in the clinical setting.


CONCLUSIONS
There is an increasing body of evidence, mainly from animal studies, that pneumoperitoneum decreases splanchnic perfusion with resulting oxidative stress. It is now appropriate to investigate the clinical significance of pneumoperitoneum-associated oxidative stress.
Sammour
T
T
Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Mittal
A
A
Loveday
B P T
BP
Kahokehr
A
A
Phillips
A R J
AR
Windsor
J A
JA
Hill
A G
AG
D000818:Animals; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000009:adverse effects; D005740:Gases; D006801:Humans; D019194:Ischemic Preconditioning / Q000379:methods; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000379:methods; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000502:physiology*; D011028:Pneumoperitoneum, Artificial / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011312:Pressure; D013152:Splanchnic Circulation / Q000502:physiology
D005740:Gases; D002245:Carbon Dioxide