What is Laparoscopy (Closed Surgery)?

What is Laparoscopy (Closed Surgery)?

Laparoscopy is a surgery based on the principle of imaging the abdominal organs by inserting a telescope (camera) into the abdomen.

Laparoscopic surgery, which has developed with the advancement of technology, is a very safe option today. Many surgeries in the abdominal cavity can now be performed laparoscopically.

It is inflated by injecting carbon dioxide gas into the abdominal cavity with the help of a needle. The most important feature of carbon dioxide gas is that it is absorbed very quickly and excreted by the body. A camera system is placed into the abdomen at the level of the belly button to view the inside of the abdomen. By opening 3-4 5-15 mm wide holes in the abdominal wall, the instruments used for the surgical procedure are inserted into the abdominal cavity and the necessary surgical procedure is performed in this way.

What are the advantages of laparoscopic surgery?

The ability to perform surgeries without making long incisions results in much fewer surgical scars.

It has been shown that laparoscopic surgeries cause fewer side effects, especially bleeding and infection, for many types of surgery.

Less tissue damage in the surgical area provides easier and faster recovery.

Intra-abdominal adhesions, which occur after open surgeries and cause trouble for many patients until the end of their lives, are less common after laparoscopic surgeries; This minimizes the possibility of intestinal obstruction that may develop in the future due to adhesions and the patient's loss of the chance of laparoscopy that may be required due to another secondary disease.

One of the most obvious advantages of the laparoscopic method is that the patient has less pain after surgery and requires less painkillers.

The hospital stay is also shorter in laparoscopic surgery. It is also easier and faster for the patient to regain normal physical activity and return to work.

Acceleration of return to work and normal life (most patients can return to their normal lives within 3-4 days)

Complications of laparoscopy:

Laparoscopy is a surgical intervention and, like every surgical intervention, it has complications. Complications of laparoscopy are more common, especially in inexperienced hands. Complications occur when trocars used to insert telescopes and other surgical instruments are inserted into the abdomen or during surgical intervention. During insertion of the telescope and trocars into the abdomen, large vessel and bowel injuries may occur in people who have previously had abdominal surgery. During surgical intervention, bowel, bladder, ureter and vascular injuries may occur. In the treatment of some of these complications, it may be necessary to perform an intervention by opening the abdomen. Another complication of laparoscopy is that the planned surgery cannot be performed due to technical impossibilities and it is converted to open surgery.

Is Every Patient Suitable for Laparoscopic Surgery?

Unfortunately, laparoscopic surgery cannot be performed on every patient. Performing laparoscopic surgery on patients who have had more than one abdominal surgery may cause more harm than good. Similarly, performing laparoscopic surgery in cases of intestinal obstruction and some hematological diseases (blood diseases) may be harmful to the patient's health.

Which diseases can be treated with laparoscopic method?

The use of laparoscopy in general surgery first started in 1987 with gallbladder surgery. Today, laparoscopy is the "gold standard" in surgeries for gallbladder diseases all over the world. In other words, open surgery is not performed unless necessary.

Apart from this, appendicitis, inguinal hernia and other abdominal hernias, reflux disease (GERD) and hiatal hernia (stomach hernia), Colon-rectum, stomach, pancreas and other intra-abdominal cancers, spleen surgeries, Obesity (obesity) surgery can be operated laparoscopically.

Single port laparoscopy method (SILS)

Single port laparoscopy (single port) method is performed by inserting surgical instruments into the abdomen through a single incision made on the abdominal wall. Since this incision is made through the belly button, which is a natural scar, there is no visible scar left after the surgery. The advantages increase even more with Single Port laparoscopy. As the number of incisions made in the abdominal area decreases, there are no surgical scars and other advantages of laparoscopy increase. Thus, after single-entry laparoscopy, patients feel less pain, complications such as infection and hernia are less common, and the time for patients to return to their normal lives is reduced.

Robotic surgery:

Again, it is done with cameras and instruments entered through small holes, but the instruments are held by robotic arms, not the surgeon and his assistants. The surgeon sits in a separate place and controls the robot by watching on a 3D screen and using "joystick"-like arms used in computer games. All surgeries performed with laparoscopy can also be performed with a robot, but since it is very expensive, its application is limited. a few surgeries