Advances in Surgery: Laparoscopic Gallbladder Surgery (4pg)

Advances in Surgery: Laparoscopic Gallbladder Surgery (4pg)

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson had his gallbladder removed and then spent a week in the hospital recovering. At a press conference after the surgery, when reporters asked Johnson how the operation went, Johnson promptly lifted up his shirt to reveal a 12-inch scar.

Fortunately, if you’re having surgery today, your experience could be very different than it was for LBJ. In hospitals across the country, surgeons now use laparoscopic techniques, also called minimally invasive surgery, to remove the gallbladder as well as for a host of other surgical procedures, including removal of all or part of the colon, the appendix, and others. Laparoscopic surgery is also used to treat Crohn’s disease, diverticulitis, colorectal cancer and other intestinal diseases. With this technique, three or four very small incisions, up to 1/2” in length, are made. Through one of these incisions, the surgeon inserts a thin flexible tube with a video camera scope attached to its end. This enables the surgeon to see inside the body and view the operation on a television monitor. Other tools are inserted into the other incisions to perform the surgery.

The benefits of this laparoscopic technique compared to conventional surgical methods are many. There is no cutting of the muscles in the abdomen. The incisions are much smaller. Any scars are virtually undetectable. Healing is faster, and the patient’s recovery time is much quicker. Hospital stays are much shorter. Most patients stay overnight, compared to a five-day hospital stay with conventional surgery.

 

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