What is laparoscopic surgery?
Laparoscopy, also known as diagnostic laparoscopy, is a surgical diagnostic procedure used to examine the organs inside the abdomen. It’s a low-risk, minimally invasive procedure that requires only minor incisions. Also, it is a modern surgical method that promises to address certain underlying health issues of the pelvic region or abdomen, in a faster and less painful way. It requires just a small incision into the human body and the surgeons can get a perfect view of the inside structure and treat the problem with unprecedented ease.
Multiple benefits of laparoscopic surgery are mentioned below:
- Less Pain
- Smaller Scars
- Lower Blood Loss
- Reduced Risk of Infections
Any patient who undergoes surgery need not stay in hospital for a longer period as the recovery is fast.
Laparoscopic surgery uses a long and slender device called a laparoscope which is inserted into the abdomen through a small incision. A camera attached to it allows the doctor to view the abdominal and pelvic organs on an electronic screen.
Benefits of laparoscopy
There is a rapid recovery. Most of the time it is a day procedure meaning the patient arrives in the morning gets the surgery done and goes back home in the evening, unlike open surgeries where the patient is hospitalized for a longer duration. In the case of major surgeries which are performed laparoscopically, patient recovery might take a few days. Results of laparoscopic surgery are far more superior to open surgeries in terms of patient safety.
Some of the key benefits are:
- Due to the magnification of the structures visualized, surgery can be very precise without much tissue damage.
- Lesser pain is experienced after laparoscopic surgery than after open abdominal surgery, which involves larger incisions, longer recovery times and prolonged hospital stays.
- Recovery from laparoscopic surgery is faster than recovery from open abdominal surgery owing to the small incisions. The smaller incisions in laparoscopy allow you to heal faster and have tiny scars. – Due to small incisions, the risk of infection is lower than in open surgery.
- Multiple procedures can be performed at the same time for the patient for example if the patient requires appendicectomy and has an ovarian cyst, both can be managed at the same time with the same small incisions. This is possible because of the access we have to the whole abdomen through a laparoscope.
The difficulties that laparoscopic surgeries can include are:
- Bleeding or a hernia at the incision sites
- Internal bleeding
- Infection
- Damage to a blood vessel or other organs, such as the stomach, bowel, bladder or ureters.
Any surgical complication depends on the skill of the surgeon which in turn depends on the training and experience of the surgeon. Yashoda Hospital & Research Centre, Sanjay Nagar, Ghaziabad best hospital in Delhi NCR, gives you world-class services, with leading surgeons and their ample experiences.
Usage of laparoscopy
Laparoscopy is used to investigate the cause of pain, when tests such as ultrasound, CT-Scan, MRI scans, X-Rays etc, don’t provide enough information or insight for a diagnosis, If a problem is detected during the process of laparoscopy, it often can be treated during the same surgery.
Your doctor may recommend a laparoscopy to examine the following organs:
- Appendix
- Gallbladder
- liver
- Pancreas
- Small intestine and large intestine (colon)
- Spleen
- Stomach
- Pelvic or reproductive organs
By observing these areas with a laparoscope, our doctors at Yashoda Hospital & Research Centre, Sanjay Nagar, Ghaziabad can detect:
- An abdominal mass or tumour
- Fluid in the abdominal cavity
- Liver disease
- The effectiveness of certain treatments
- The degree to which particular cancer has progressed
Gynecologic laparoscopy
Gynecologic laparoscopy is an alternative to open surgery. It uses a laparoscope to look inside your pelvic area. Open surgery often requires a large incision.
A laparoscope is a slender, lighted telescope. It allows the doctor to see inside your body. Diagnostic laparoscopy can determine whether you have conditions such as endometriosis or fibroids.
The following medical conditions can be diagnosed and treated using laparoscopy: – Endometriosis: If medications have not helped endometriosis, a laparoscopy may be recommended by our doctors. A laparoscope is inserted inside your pelvis to investigate, and if an endometriosis tissue is found, it is removed during the same procedure.
- Pelvic floor disorders: Urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse can be treated by laparoscopic surgery.
- Fibroids: Fibroids are abnormal growths that form inside or outside the uterus. Most fibroids are benign (not cancerous), but a very small number are malignant (cancerous). Fibroids can lead to pain or heavy bleeding and laparoscopy can be used to remove them.
- Ovarian cyst: Some women tend to grow a fluid-filled sac called cysts on their ovaries. The cysts often go away without treatment. But if they do not, your ob-gyn may suggest that they are removed with laparoscopy.
- Cancer: Cancer tumours can be removed using laparoscopy.
Recovery after laparoscopy
Laparoscopic surgery involves small incisions, and patients are subjected to only general anaesthesia. However, the procedure does involve Carbon dioxide gas insertion into the abdominal area through the incision. This inflates the abdomen and aids in easy diagnosis by creating space for free movement of the laparoscope. In some cases, the surgeon may create some more incisions for apt diagnosis and treatment. Following the diagnosis, patients may feel some amount of pain, nausea during the first few hours. Also, the recovery time varies. It depends on what procedure was performed. You may be free to go home a few hours after surgery. You might also have to stay in the hospital for one or more nights in some critical cases only. After surgery, your belly button might be tender. There may be bruises on your stomach. The gas inside you can make your chest, middle, and shoulders ache. There’s also a chance that you’ll feel nauseated for the rest of the day. Yashoda Hospital & Research Centre, Sanjay Nagar, Ghaziabad, gives you the best specialists for laparoscopic treatment.
Specialists in Yashoda Hospital & Research Centre, Sanjay Nagar, Ghaziabad
Dr. Ashish Gautam (HOD Surgery)
Dr Ashish Gautam is a very renowned and highly experienced surgeon. He possesses vast experience, having performed more than 20,000 laparoscopic procedures, including advanced laparoscopic procedures like lap colorectal, lap bariatric, laparoscopic common bile duct surgeries, and video assisted thoracoscopic surgeries. He has also established a benchmark in abdominal and thoracic trauma care at Yashoda Hospital & Research Centre by maintaining standard trauma protocol. Besides this, Dr Gautam performs laparoscopic common bile duct surgeries for common bile duct stones.
Dr. Rishi Singhal (Consultant, Bariatric Surgery)
Dr Rishi Singhal performs various laparoscopic and open general upper GI and bariatric surgical procedures, including gastric banding, gastric bypass, gastric sleeve and anti-reflux surgery, and holds expertise in revisional bariatric surgery.
Dr Singhal is highly experienced and proficient in carrying out benign upper GI surgery, bariatric surgery and resectional surgery for oesophagogastric cancers. His ongoing research interests include the metabolic effects of bariatric surgery on patients with diabetes.