Ex Lap Surgery. It is the standard of care in various blunt and penetrating trauma situations in which there may be life threatening internal injuries. This surgery uses 1 large cut incision.
It is typically used as a last resort measure to enable a vet to make a proper diagnosis of a serious abdominal issue if all other methods of determining the root cause of the problem have proven inconclusive. By definition an exploratory laparotomy is a laparotomy performed with the objective of obtaining information that is not available via clinical diagnostic methods. Exploratory laparotomy is surgery to open up the belly area abdomen.
It is also used in certain diagnostic situations in which the operation is undertaken in search of a unifying cause for multiple signs and symptoms of disease and in the staging of some cancers.
An exploratory laparotomy also known as a celiotomy or ex lap is a type of major surgery that involves opening the abdomen with a large incision in order to visualize the entire abdominal cavity. How big does an ex lap incision need to be i am a firm believer that the incision must extend from the xiphoid to the pubis. This surgery uses one large cut incision. In diagnostic laparotomy most often referred to as an exploratory laparotomy and abbreviated ex lap the nature of the disease is unknown and laparotomy is deemed the best way to identify the cause.
