A laparoscopy is a type of keyhole surgery that’s performed in the abdominal (belly) area. It has advantages over traditional surgery, such as more rapid recovery, reduced pain and much smaller scars. If you have a laparoscopy, it often means you don’t need to stay in hospital overnight. Laparoscopies is used to diagnosis conditions or perform surgery in the abdominal and pelvic area. It can be used to:

• assess painful or heavy periods
• remove the uterus, fallopian tubes or ovaries
• diagnose or treat endometriosis
• diagnose or remove ovarian cysts
• assess female infertility
• treat ectopic pregnancy
• remove cysts or other tumours
• remove the gall bladder
• remove parts of the intestine
• take a biopsy (a small tissue sample) for testing
• Search for the causes of ongoing abdominal or pelvic pain.