Ultrasonography Guided Pneumoperitoneum for Laparoscopic Surgery in Morbidly Obese Patients

All patients above the age of 18 years with morbid obesity planned for Laparoscopic bariatric surgery will be considered for inclusion in the study. The patient will be explained about the study and asked to sign an informed consent form. The patient's eligibility for the study will be checked by a competent radiologist through pre-operative ultrasonography. All patients will undergo metabolic surgery by a single competent surgeon per the standard operating protocol under general anaesthesia. A single dose of prophylactic antibiotic will be administered 30 minutes before the incision, the patient will be well strapped, and the port sites will be measured and marked. In group A, Ultrasonography will be used to locate the midline precisely and for subsequent puncturing with a Veress needle to enter the peritoneal cavity and the pneumoperitoneum created under real-time vision. In group B, the veress needle is inserted blindly, as regularly done in any other laparoscopic surgery, and the successful pneumoperitoneum is confirmed by percussion on the abdomen. Time taken and the number of attempts for achieving pneumoperitoneum and complications, if any, in both groups will be recorded by an independent assessor. Sample size calculation : There are no similar studies done before to assess the role of Ultrasonography in achieving pneumoperitoneum. Hence, the sample size was calculated for a pilot study, as per the recommendation of Sim J and Lewis M, considering precision, proportion, and efficiency. The trial was planned through a study of a continuous variable in two independent, Blind vs. USG guided Veress needle insertions to determine if the two study groups differ in the time taken to start pneumoperitoneum successfully. The study used for calculating sample size : Total sample size: 20 in each arm Blinding: Single blinded where only the patient is blinded