Laparoscopic surgery is a technique of performing surgeries with the most modern specialized surgical instruments in which the surgeon puts in a camera in the patient’s abdomen and operates upon the different organs situated inside. Laparoscopic operations are performed through very small incisions hardly 5mm to 10mm, which result in minimal scarring and are extremely comfortable to the patient. In this technique placing a small high definition camera through a small incision, which is barely visible after six months, does the entire operation. The advantage of using this high definition camera is that it gives an immensely crystal clear view inside the body so the operations are done with extreme precision and can also reach areas, which are difficult to reach during open surgical operations.
What is the advantage of laparoscopic surgery?
The laparoscopic surgery evolved in the nineties, with the gall bladder and appendix being the earliest operations being done by this technique. There was an era when most of the gall bladder operations were done by traditional open surgery by a long incision over the front of the abdomen, but now most of the patients would want their gall bladders to be removed Laparoscopically. The greatest advantage of Laparoscopic surgery is that it requires a very small incision for very complex high end surgeries. It is specially important in urological operations. A traditional open surgical incision in the kidney requires cutting of the strong muscles of the back as well as the stomach on the front. Since the incision stretches from the back up to the front so the length of the traditional incision is usually between 20-30cms. It requires muscles being cut so is more painful for the patient. It also requires cutting of the 12th rib for exposure of the kidney so all the way is much more painful. In laparoscopic urological surgery all these problems are avoided since the incision is usually 2-3 cms in most of the kidney and ureter operations.
After laparoscopic surgery the patients can go home early, require less amount of painkillers an the incision heals very nicely. Since the incision is small it never leads to development of hernia in future. Another advantage to the patient is that the patient starts eating up early after the operation and there is less bleeding so usually blood transfusion is not required. After the surgery the patient usually goes back home in two days and can resume his daily routine work or can join office after a week. In open surgery since the incision is long and takes more time to heal, so usually they are discharges after 4-5 days and can not resume work by even two weeks. In fact the actual healing of the incision takes around 6 weeks to six months. The main advantage to the surgeon is that with the help of the high definition camera the vision is very clear and the field of vision is also extensive. Since in the open surgical operations the vision gets limited in the peripheral areas, this form of surgery is better in that aspect. In today’s date almost all leading specialist centers have started such kinds of operations for the kidney.
Laparoscopic pyeloplasty is a surgery to perform reconstruction of a narrowing or scarring where the ureter (the tube that drains urine from the kidney to the bladder) attaches to the kidney. It is performed using minimally invasive surgery where few small keyholes in abdomen are used for surgery.
This operation is used to correct a blockage or narrowing of the ureter where it leaves the kidney. This abnormality is called a ureteropelvic junction (UPJ) obstruction which results in poor and sluggish drainage of urine from the kidney. UPJ obstruction can potentially cause abdominal and flank pain, stones, infection, high blood pressure and deterioration of kidney function.
When compared to the conventional open surgical technique, laparoscopic pyeloplasty has resulted in significantly less post-operative pain, a shorter hospital stay, earlier return to work and daily activities, a more favorable cosmetic result and outcomes identical to that of the open procedure.
