Considerations for Pituitary Hormones during Abdominal Laparoscopic Surgery

Abdominal laparoscopic surgery using carbon dioxide gas for insufflation has a known complication of asystole. A patient that undergoes this type of surgery that has a history of hypophysectomy may have added risks for this complication. Hormones released from the pituitary gland control many different operations in the body. When they are deficient, a patient's body is not able to respond as effectively as a patient having normal hormone levels to surgical stress. This case study concludes that when a patient has no pituitary gland, there is a need to examine laboratory values and the daily medications preoperatively. This will help determine if the patient can cope with surgical stress. In this case, abdominal insufflation and the risks involved are the particular surgical stressors that are being examined.