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Originally Posted by Alan A
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Having completed a 5-year general surgical residency and performed many laparoscopic surgeries, I find that information you posted incorrect. The insufflation gas can/will make you feel distended and bloated. But that's different than burping and farting.
The gas is placed into the intra-abdominal cavity. But the lumen (tube) of the intestinal tract--while it lies within the intra-abdominal cavity--is not continuous with the intra-abdominal space. Think of a tube within a tube. The insides of your intestinal tract--the surface of the mouth/esophagus/stomach/small intestine/large intestine that actually touches food and poop--does not have a direct connection to the space inside the abdominal cavity that gets insufflated with CO2 (which is outside the intestinal tract). Therefore, CO2 will not directly fill up the intestinal tract.
For example, our intestinal tract is filled with bacteria. It's in the food we eat, and it's what helps us break down and digest food. That's why poop (ultimately) is full of bacteria. But the intra-abdominal cavity (the space between the intestine and the inner wall of the abdominal cavity) itself is sterile. We have bacteria inside our intestines, but we don't have bacteria floating around in between all the loops of intestines. In fact, there's a lining, called peritoneum, that acts as a layer/boundary around all the "outsides" of our intestines and the "inside" surface of the abdominal cavity. To a certain extent and from that perspective, the body considers the insides of our intestines as space outside our body; like a tube that just passes through our body. If we were so unfortunate as to have some sort of bowel perforation (i.e. GSW, stab wound, diverticular rupture, blunt force trauma, injury from a procedure such as a colonoscopy), then bacteria inside our gut would leak into the intra-abdominal space and cause a severe infection; look up the words peritonitis or intra-abdominal abscess. In short, there's no direct connection between the intra-abdominal space and the insides of our intestinal tract.
Hence, CO2 insufflation should not cause the GI tract to fill with commodious amounts of CO2, necessitating burping and farting after the procedure. The CO2 will surround the GI tract, but it won't flow right in and fill it up. There may be some diffusion of CO2 across the intestinal wall, but that's not going to cause tons of burping and/or farting. That's just not how the body is assembled.