Laparoscopic surgery generally refers to a minimally invasive surgical technique where surgeons perform surgery through several small incisions using a Camera to view the procedure on a TV monitor.
Though it was started with common operations like tubal ligation in females for sterilisation, appendicectomy, and removal of gallbladder etc, nowadays, we can do more complex operations through the same technique with the help of more sophisticated machines and advanced training.
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In comparison to traditional, open surgery, laparoscopy is much more comfortable and is less painful as well.
The small incision takes less amount of time to heal and so, patients are allowed to get back to their regular activities much sooner. Patients who go through laparoscopic surgeries spend less time in the hospital and overall spend less money as well. The chance of a hernia in a large open surgery scar is much higher than a small scar in laparoscopic surgery.
Laparoscopic surgeries helps in reducing the risk of bleeding during the surgery as the incision is relatively very small than the ones made during traditional surgery. The amount of blood loss is minimal in such a case and therefore the need of blood transfusion is also decreased, significantly.
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Post-operative infection is a major risk for patient and with the help of laparoscopic surgeries the risk of exposing the internal organs to contamination is also reduced.
Most intestinal surgeries can be performed using laparoscopy. These include surgery for Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, diverticulitis, cancer; rectal prolapse and severe constipation.
In the past, concerns were raised about the safety of laparoscopic surgery for cancer operations. Recently, several studies involving hundreds of patients have shown that it’s safe for certain colorectal cancers. Colon and rectal surgeons are experts in the surgical and nonsurgical treatment of diseases of the colon, rectum and anus. They have completed advanced surgical training in the treatment of these diseases as well as general surgical training. They are well versed in the treatment of both benign and malignant diseases of the colon, rectum and anus.
(Dr Sibnath Mandal is an MS (Cal), MRCS (Edin), AFRCS (Ire), FRCS (UK), CCST in General Surgery Consultant GI & Colorectal Surgeon, Peerless Hospital, Kolkata)
