What is Laparoscopic Surgery? Why is laparoscopic surgery more and more popular?

This article is professionally consulted by resident Doctor Le Thanh Tuan - Department of General Surgery - Vinmec Nha Trang International Hospital. The doctor has extensive experience in examination, treatment and surgery of abdominal diseases.

Laparoscopic surgery is increasingly being chosen by more and more people, because this is a less invasive method, with many advantages compared to open surgery, such as: small scar, less postoperative pain, faster recovery, time shorter hospital stay.

Laparoscopic surgery, sometimes referred to as “minimally invasive surgery,” is an operation that uses only small incisions (cuts), instead of the few centimeters long incisions used in open surgery.

In laparoscopic surgery, doctors insert a special, long, thin instrument into the abdomen through a small incision. This device is called an endoscope. There is a camera attached to the tube and the image is displayed on a screen, allowing the surgeon to see all the organs in the abdomen and pelvis. If there is a disease that needs to be treated, the doctor will conduct treatment by making one or more small incisions and inserting the endoscope through these incisions. Sometimes no further incision is needed, but an incision in the endoscope site is used.

There are many benefits to applying laparoscopic surgery, such as: Less pain after surgery, faster recovery, shorter hospital stay, smaller scars and faster healing, risk of infection. lower than open surgery.

Laparoscopic surgery may take longer than open surgery. A longer duration of anesthesia may increase the risk of complications, including those that appear days to weeks after surgery. Possible problems during laparoscopic surgery include:
Bleeding or hernia at the incision site Bleeding in infection Injury to blood vessels or other organs, such as the stomach, intestines, bladder, or ureters.

Laparoscopic tubal ligation, laparoscopic hysterectomy are a few examples. In a laparoscopic hysterectomy, the surgeon removes the uterus from the body in one of two ways: Cutting the uterus into small pieces and inserting it through a small incision in the abdomen. Or remove the intact uterus from the body through the vagina.

Use laparoscopy to find the cause and treat chronic pelvic pain, infertility, or pelvic mass. In addition, it can also be used to diagnose and treat the following conditions:
Endometriosis - Patients with symptoms, and at the same time taking drugs that are not effective, it is recommended to use laparoscopy. During the surgery, the surgeon will look inside the patient's pelvis with a laparoscope, find the endometriosis and remove it. Uterine fibroids — An abnormal growth of fleshy bumps from the muscle of the uterus. The location of fibroids can be under the serosa, the lining of the uterus, in the muscle layer of the uterus, or even outside the uterus. Most fibroids are benign (not cancerous), but a very small number are malignant (cancerous). Fibroids can cause pain or heavy bleeding. Occasionally, patients are indicated for endoscopic fibroid resection. Ovarian Cysts – Some women develop cysts on their ovaries that, over time, usually go away on their own without treatment. However, if the cyst does not go away, doctors may perform laparoscopic surgery to remove the cyst. Ectopic pregnancy – An ectopic pregnancy can be removed by laparoscopic surgery. Pelvic floor disorders – Laparoscopy can also be used to treat urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. Cancer – Some types of cancer can be treated with endoscopy.

Laparoscopic surgery patients are usually anesthetized.

After the patient is anesthetized, the doctor will make a small incision in the navel/below the navel/or another point in the abdomen, and insert a laparoscope with a camera through this incision. During surgery, the patient's abdomen is filled with air, allowing doctors to clearly see the pelvic reproductive organs.
Images of pelvic organs are displayed on the monitor connected to the laparoscope camera. During surgery, the surgeon may make one or more small incisions to put the surgical instruments into operation.

After surgery, the surgeon will remove all instruments and release air, then stitch all the incisions and transfer the patient to the recovery room. The person may feel drowsy for several hours afterward, and may feel nauseous from the effects of the anesthetic.
Patients who are not hospitalized after surgery should be monitored in the recovery room until they can stand up and urinate completely. Need a family member to accompany you home.

For a few days after surgery, you may feel fatigue, discomfort, and pain around the incision. Some other problems can include:
Sore throat - caused by breathing tubes placed through the throat. Suck on candy or gargle with warm salt water. Shoulder or back pain, caused by a small amount of gas left in the abdomen, will clear up on its own in a few hours to a few days. If after a few days, the pain and nausea do not go away, or even get worse, contact your doctor immediately for advice.

The doctor will advise when the patient can return to normal activities. For minor surgery, it usually takes about 1-2 days. With more complicated surgeries, like a hysterectomy, patients need a longer recovery time and avoid strenuous exercise.

Contact your doctor right away if you have any of the following symptoms:
Fever Severe or increasing pain Severe vaginal bleeding Incisions swelling, redness, or discharge Fainting Urinating does not go away In recent years, inside Besides conventional endoscopic methods, robotic laparoscopic surgery technology is being put into application and strongly developed in major countries around the world.
The method is a combination of the skills, expertise of the doctor and the high precision of modern technology. Robotic laparoscopic surgery technology has the ability to overcome some difficulties in conventional surgery, such as providing clear 3D camera images instead of 2D images, agile and flexible surgical arms that help cut cuts. , fast and accurate burning, wide viewing angle overcomes vision difficulties in some areas of the body that are difficult for doctors to see. Currently, in Vietnam, there have been a number of large hospitals putting this method into operation, including Vinmec International General Hospital.

Article referenced source: Acog.org