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Jawale et al. Mini-invasive Surg 2019;3:19 Mini-invasive Surgery
DOI: 10.20517/2574-1225.2019.12

Letter to Editor Open Access

Rigid video laparoscope: a low-cost alternative to
traditional diagnostic laparoscopy and laparoscopic

surgery

Sagar Jawale , Gnanaraj Jesudian , Prakash Agarwal 3
2
1
1 Jawale Institute of pediatric surgery, Jilha Peth, Gandhi Nagar, Jalgaon 425001, Maharashtra, India.
2 Karunya Institute of Science and Technology, Coimbatore 641114, Tamil Nadu, India.
3 Professor & Head of Pediatric Surgery at the Sri Ramachandra Medical College, Chennai- 600116 and Consultant Pediatric
Surgeon at The Apollo hospital, Chennai 600006, Tamil Nadu, India.
Correspondence to: Sagar Jawale, Jawale Institute of pediatric surgery, Jilha Peth, Gandhi Nagar, Jalgaon 425001, Maharashtra,
India. E-mail: drsagarjawale@gmail.com
How to cite this article: Jawale S, Jesudian G, Agarwal P. Rigid video laparoscope: a low- cost alternative to traditional diagnostic
laparoscopy and laparoscopic surgery. Mini-invasive Surg 2019;3:19. http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2574-1225.2019.12

Received: 18 Apr 2019 First Decision: 24 Apr 2019 Revised: 24 Apr 2019 Accepted: 15 May 2019 Published: 26 Jun 2019
Science Editor: Giulio Belli Copy Editor: Cai-Hong Wang Production Editor: Jing Yu

INTRODUCTION
Diagnosis of abdominal conditions is always a challenge in rural areas. The modern diagnostic facilities
like CT scans and MRI are not available there. Survey of the operation registers of many rural hospitals
(17 hospitals) belonging to an association of hospitals in North India revealed that Diagnostic laparotomies
were a common surgical procedure in rural areas . Despite the high costs and invasive nature Laparotomies
[1]
were still carried out in rural areas because of the cost effectiveness and convenience. Society of American
Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) have given a long list of indications for Diagnostic
laparoscopy that are applicable in Urban areas too .
[2]
The problem in rural areas is the high costs involved in the set up for Diagnostic Laparoscopies. Traditionally
it would involve almost all the equipment required for laparoscopic surgeries and most of the rural surgical
facilities cannot afford such high costs especially if they are doing only diagnostic laparoscopies. We offer
an alternative low- cost method for carrying out Diagnostic Laparoscopies. The second author has used this
innovation for diagnostic laparoscopies in rural areas. This innovation, a unique rigid video laparoscope is
the first device of its kind described in the literature of laparoscopy. A patent is filed for it at Mumbai office.

© The Author(s) 2019. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
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