Laparoscopic Surgery

A surgeon can examine the abdomen and perform certain surgical procedures using a laparoscope (a viewing tube). The laparoscope is equipped with a precision optical system that sends clear images to a video monitor. Laparoscopic surgery can be used to remove an inflamed appendix or a diseased gallbladder. For laparoscopic surgery, the patient is given general anesthesia, a small incision is made in the abdomen, and the laparoscope is inserted. Other tiny incisions are made around the abdomen through which tiny surgical instruments are inserted through instrument tubes. The surgeon inflates the abdominal cavity with carbon dioxide gas to provide sufficient room in which to examine the tissues and manipulate the surgical instruments. For laparoscopic cholecystectomy, the surgeon uses tiny scissors to cut the cystic artery and the cystic duct and to separate the gallbladder from the liver. He or she then seals off the blood vessels to the gallbladder, draws the gallbladder out through the incision beneath the navel, and stitches up the incisions.

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The surgeon performs the operation while viewing the inside of the abdomen on the video monitor. Usually the surgery is videotaped at the same time. The diseased tissue is removed through one of the instrument tubes. After surgery the patient will have only a small dressing over the incision. Often he or she can go home later that day and resume normal activities shortly thereafter.