Does Laparoscopic Lens Contamination Effect Operative Time? A Study on the Frequency and Duration of Lens Contamination and Commonly Used Measures to Maintain Clear Vision

Abstract

Objective: To determine factors affecting lens fogging and different methods used for decreasing lens fogging and operation time.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in General surgery department of Gulab Devi Hospital, Lahore from January 2022 to July 2022. A total of 70 patient undergoing laparoscopic surgery were recruited in this study. Operative time, duration of time the lens remained cleaned or dirty, time wasted during cleaning, methods used for cleaning of lens and causes of lens contamination were the variables of this study.
Results: Total operative time in all 70 laparoscopic procedures was found to be 53 hours and 13 minutes with a mean of 43.8 ± 8.3 minutes. A total of 288 lens contamination events were observed in all these operations with an average of 4.11 lens contamination events per case. According to study an average, 60.9% of the operational time lens remained clear, 31.2% of the operational time lens remained contaminated and 7.92% of the operative time was spent in cleaning the laparoscope.
Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that a significant period of a laparoscopic surgery is performed with foggy display. A lot of time is wasted in lens cleaning.