Laparotomy

On July 13, 1881, George E. Goodfellow treated a miner outside Tombstone, Arizona Territory, who had been shot in the abdomen with a .32-caliber Colt revolver.

Goodfellow was able to operate on the man nine days after he was shot, when he performed the first laparotomy to treat a bullet wound.

[citation needed] Midline incisions are particularly favoured in diagnostic laparotomy, as they allow wide access to most of the abdominal cavity.

One major prospective study of 10,745 adult patients undergoing emergency laparotomy from 357 centres in 58 high-, middle-, and low-income countries found that mortality is three times higher in low- compared with high-HDI countries even when adjusted for prognostic factors.

Internationally, the most common operations performed were appendectomy, small bowel resection, pyloromyotomy and correction of intussusception.

A related procedure is laparoscopy, where cameras and other instruments are inserted into the peritoneal cavity via small holes in the abdomen.