Treatment of rectosigmoid endometriosis by laparoscopically assisted vaginal rectosigmoidectomy

Objective: To describe the use of mechanical anastomoses in cases of laparoscopically assisted vaginal rectosigmoidectomy for the treatment of rectosigmoid endometriosis. Methods: Pilot study evaluating eight patients with rectosigmoid endometriosis referred for surgical treatment. All patients were submitted to laparoscopically assisted vaginal segmental resection of the rectosigmoid with anastomoses performed using linear and circular staplers. Results: The average length of the surgical procedure was 177.5 min and average duration of hospitalization was 4.13 days. There were no intra-operative complications and integrity of the anastomoses was confirmed in all patients. One patient reported partial improvement of symptoms and 7 patients presented complete clinical remission 12 months following surgery. Conclusion: Laparoscopically assisted vaginal segmental resection of the sigmoid infiltrated by endometriosis is a feasible surgical procedure. The technique combines transvaginal access with mechanical intestinal anastomoses performed using linear and circular staplers, and achieves good results with tow morbidity. (c) 2005 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.