Laparoscopy

In conventional surgery, an incision is made, and the organ to be operated on is exposed, so that the procedure can be carried out in "3 dimensions", with all the surgeon's senses being used. The drawback of this approach is that the incision can take a long time to heal, and recovery to normal activity may also take quite a long time.

In recent years, a new approach, using a camera inserted through a small incision, has been developed, and this is known as laparoscopy. The actual operation is done using specially designed instruments, which are inserted through 2 or 3 further small incisions, but is usually almost exactly the same as when done by a conventional open approach; because the incisions are much smaller, hospital stay is usually much shorter, and recovery a lot quicker.

The drawbacks of this approach are that the surgery is usually more difficult, and can be quite a lot slower, as the surgeon can only operate in 2 dimensions, using a picture projected on to a screen, and without the benefit of the sense of touch, but with the right training and experience, these drawbacks become minimal compared with the benefit to the patient.

Not all patients are suitable for this approach, and there are still several operations that are not routinely available laparoscopically, but the scope for this approach is expanding all the time and it would certainly be worth discussing with your surgeon whether your condition could benefit from being treated this way.