A Review Of Single Incision Laparoscopic Surgery

By Edward Thomas


Surgery is one of the fields in medicine that continues to evolve very rapidly. The advances that have been made in the field have made it possible to perform major operations with very few complications. Apart from restoring of function in diseased organs, many patients care about the cosmetic appearance of their skin as much as they want to function normally again. This is the main reason as to why minimally invasive techniques such as single incision laparoscopic surgery are replacing open surgeries in New York city.

As the name suggests, this is minimally invasive type of surgery in which a single port of entry is used. This entry point is in most cases the navel of the patient. Like many other types of surgeries, this operation is done under general anesthesia. It is also known as single port laparoscopy (SPL) or single port access surgery (SPA). The traditional laparoscopic technique requires three separate incisions to be made.

There are a number of surgical operations that can be performed using this technique. They include gallbladder removal, repair of inguinal and incisional hernias, appendectomy and the removal of pelvic organs such as the ovary and the uterus among others. This list continues to grow by the day as better instruments are invented to make it easier to perform such operations.

One of the advantages is that there is less pain as compared to the traditional approach of laparoscopy. As a result, the patients tend to heal a lot faster. It also yields better results cosmetically bearing in mind that only a small opening is made. The main undoing would be the fact that it is marginally expensive than the traditional methods primarily due to the specialized equipment that is used.

It is important to mention that using the technique is a lot more cumbersome than the traditional methods. Using the same opening for all the instruments may not be that easy for surgeons who are not adequately experienced. This is because instrument crowding obscures the view and the distance from the incision site to the target site is often longer. As a result, the risk of intraoperative injury is higher than in other methods without proper training.

This technique is not suitable for use in patients that are very obese, those that have a massively enlarged abdominal organ and those with a history of multiple operations. This is because of the difficulties that are associated with operating these groups of patients. In case, the operation cannot be completed successfully (as happens in 5 to 10% of cases). Additional ports can be created or even conversion to the open procedure in rare cases.

There are risks that you need to be aware of even as you consider undergoing the operation. Bleeding and surgical site infections are the most frequently encountered but their incidence is far less than what is seen with the other methods. Incisional hernias are a common problem with open surgery but with this technique they are a rare occurrence.

Single incision surgery is a specialist procedure that continues to rise in popularity among surgeons and patients. Due to its minimal invasive nature, the risks that are usually associated with operations are markedly reduced. Gynecology and pediatrics are the two fields of medicine that have readily embraced the technique.




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