Laparoscopic Surgery
What is laparoscopic surgery?
Laparoscopic surgery is an advanced system of doing surgery that calls for minimum incisions and quick recovery for the patients. It requires great skill on the part of the surgeon. At Janvi Multispeciality Hospital, Vadodara, We have a special department and a laparoscopic surgeon dedicated to laparoscopic surgery.How is Laparoscopy done?
During this procedure, we give you anaesthesia (the type of anaesthesia differs depending on the surgery to be performed) and later on, short narrow tubes called ‘trochars’ are inserted into your abdomen. So that we see the part to be operated on, we inflate the abdomen with Carbon dioxide gas. It separates the abdominal wall from the organs inside the body. The incisions are as small as 1 cm in length. This makes the recovery very speedy. As we need to make just a small incision so this surgery is also called ‘key-hole surgery.’ There is a huge screen in the operation theatre on which we can see the images. Then after, post-surgery, we measure your belly’s circumference, Blood Pressure to monitor whether the carbon dioxide gas is getting released from your body. The carbon dioxide gas is released in the form of gas when you fart. It requires a lot of skill on the laparoscopic surgeon’s part to conduct a laparoscopic surgery because we don’t directly put an incision on your stomach to view the whole infected part, rather it is to be operated through the pipes that are inserted.
Why is laparoscopy performed?
Laparoscopy is usually done to identify the source of pelvic or abdominal pain. Laparoscopic surgeon does it to:- View the internal organs for the suspected disorder like endometriosis.
- Remove any organ or unwanted tissue from the body.
- CT Scan
- MRI Scan
- UltraSound
What does laparoscopy help to detect?
A laparoscopic surgeon can easily detect the following things:- Abnormal mass in the abdomen
- Tumour in abdomen
- Deposition of fluids in the abdominal cavity
- Liver diseases like cirrhosis of the liver.
- The degree to which cancer has progressed.
Which organs can be examined through a laparoscopy?
A laparoscopic surgeon can observe the following internal organs with laparoscopy without making big incisions.- appendix
- gallbladder
- liver
- pancreas
- small intestine and large intestine (colon)
- spleen
- stomach
- pelvic or reproductive organs
Are there any risks of laparoscopy?
At Janvi Multispeciality Hospital, Vadodara, we have a team of skilled laparoscopic surgeons so chances of any mishappening are almost zero. Although the chances of anything going wrong are rare, still you need to call the doctor if you experience the below symptoms:- Fevers or chills
- Intense abdominal pain
- Redness or bleeding, or drainage at the incision sites
- Continuous nausea or vomiting (not due to the effect of anaesthesia)
- Persistent cough
- Shortness of breath
- Inability to urinate
- Lightheadedness
- Inflammation of the abdominal wall
- Blood clots
How should you prepare for laparoscopic surgery?
- Mostly at Janvi Multispeciality Hospital, Vadodara, we ask the patients to get admitted one day before the surgery so that the patient is mentally prepared to get operated on for laparoscopic surgery by a skilled laparoscopic surgeon.
- Just as in the case of other surgeries, we ask for blood tests, urine tests. In addition to that depending on the complexities of the case we ask for:
- MRI
- CT Scan
- X-ray
- ECG
What precautions should you take after laparoscopy?
Generally, we call the patient two to three days after the surgery to replace the bandage and again thereafter at an interval of a week to verify whether the stitches are healing. In between, if you face any difficulty in carrying out your daily activities (like urinating or passing of stools) then you should reach out to a doctor. Secondly, you should eat the prescribed diet and not eat too much oily, sour or any other kind of food which you are asked to. As far as possible wear loose clothes and do not lift any heavy weights or don’t try to push heavy objects. Take all medicines and precautions prescribed by the doctor and go for a periodic visit whenever the doctor asks for them.Faqs
Some surgeries are major whereas the others are minor. Laparoscopy is a procedure. It does not convert a major surgery into a minor surgery. It only helps to make the recovery process faster.
You are given general anesthesia for laparoscopy so the process does not end.
Common reasons for undergoing a laparoscopy include:
- diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis
- chronic pelvic pain
- pelvic inflammatory disease
- causes of infertility
- the removal of fibroids
- uterus
- ovarian cysts
- lymph nodes
- an ectopic pregnancy.
In most cases, you can leave the hospital the very next day.
All surgeries leave some scars. But in the case of laparoscopy, the scars are very small. Laparoscopy does not involve larger incisions and hence scarring is less compared to open surgery.
Laparoscopy is a procedure that requires very good expertise on the part of a surgeon. Following risks can occur due to laparoscopy if it is not done properly.
Risks of laparoscopy
- Damage to the internal structures in the body
- Blood clots
- Allergic reactions
- Problems while urinating
- adhesions
With the help of a laparoscope, we can extract the sample of the suspected tissue. Later, after a biopsy, we can test whether it is cancerous and take the required action.
Many cancers that can be diagnosed using laparoscopy include:
- liver cancer
- pancreatic
- cancerovarian cancer
- cancer of the bile duct
- cancer of the gallbladder
Post-surgical bloating and swelling are mostly eased with time. Although most swelling and bloating will clear by 12 weeks, you may find that swelling ebbs and flows for up to 12 months after surgery.
Abdominal discomfort/ bloating is a common problem after laparoscopy. For doing laparoscopy we pump Carbon Dioxide gas into your body. This helps us to view all internal organs properly. So you might feel a little discomfort but walking or using a heat pack provides relief. With time, the swelling goes away.
Yes definitely! Laparoscopic surgery is a safe alternative to open surgery because it requires very small incisions of 2 cm size to put the camera inside your belly.
Whereas in the case of open surgery, long cuts are involved which takes time to heal. Along with that, it leads to blood loss and there is a chance of infection.
In the case of small adhesions in fallopian tubes, that can be removed laparoscopically. But this is possible only when the blockages are small enough to be removed laparoscopically. If they are huge then laparoscopy is not possible.
It is essential to follow proper guidelines given by a doctor after a laparoscopy. In general, you can follow these guidelines.
- Rest when you feel exhausted
- Walk
- Avoid strenuous activities
- Avoid lifting heavy articles or anything that would make you strain.
Well, it depends on the type of procedure done. If it is exploratory then it takes almost a week to heal. Whereas if laparoscopy is used to perform surgery then it can take almost 3-12 weeks to heal completely.
Soon after the laparoscopic surgery, you are not allowed to eat anything. After the effect of anesthesia, you can start with ice cream. If you don’t feel like vomiting then you can start with a very soft diet like soups, milk, rice, etc. Generally, we don’t allow hard food for at least a day.
Removal of gall bladder in technical terms is called a cholecystectomy. It is generally cheaper than open surgery.
However, laparoscopic appendectomy and sigmoidectomy are slightly more expensive than open surgery.
In general, health insurance covers laparoscopy because it is a surgical problem to treat health problems.
Laparoscopic gastric banding surgery helps in weight loss. What happens typically is that a band is placed around the upper part of the stomach. This creates a small pouch to hold food. The benefit of this band is makes you feel full after eating small quantities of food and thereby reducing your food intake and helping in weight loss.
- Include more fibre in your daily diet.
- Do light exercises after consulting a doctor
- Stay stress-free
- Follow a proper sleep Schedule
People feel that due to the infusion of Carbon dioxide gas in the stomach, you’ll gain weight but it is not true. Laparoscopy in itself does not cause weight gain but if you do not follow the prescribed diet, or do not do any exercises prescribed by the doctors then it can lead to weight gain.
Apart from that eating habits, stress, lifestyle are some of the factors that can lead to weight gain.
In open surgery, a single long incision is made to access the abdomen. Laparoscopic surgery uses several incisions of 2 cm. Laparoscopy heals faster than a usual laparotomy.
It purely depends on the type of procedure performed. The wounds might seem to get healed externally but internally they take time to heal. That is why depending on the type of procedure it can take almost 14 days to drive after the procedure.
- Don’t drink alcohol
- Don’t smoke
- Don’t drive 24 hours after the surgery
- While bathing takes care that the keyholes don’t get wet.
Sore belly, cramping, pain around the cuts is normal after a laparoscopy. Generally, doctors prescribe painkillers to help you deal with the pain. The pain can last for a week.
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