UA Surgeon Performs Single-Incision Gallbladder Removal
March 24, 2009
A University of Arizona surgeon is performing gallbladder surgery using a single incision in the navel. This state-of-the-art procedure is designed to limit scarring, reduce post-surgery pain and shorten recovery time.
“Patients can truly benefit from the least invasive procedure possible,” said Evan Ong, MD, assistant professor of surgery in the UA Department of Surgery. “Less pain, quicker recovery and better cosmetic outcomes are all major advantages of single incision and laparoscopy in general."
The gallbladder is removed through a single incision, approximately 1 inch in length, at the patient's belly button, rather than through the traditional four incisions. The patient usually is sent home the same day with only a small scar to show for it.
Dusti Brantner, a 30-year-old mother of three, suffered with severe abdominal pain and couldn’t eat. “The gallbladder attacks were getting worse and I kept throwing up,” she said. A resident of Safford, Ariz., Brantner works at a bank. She said she opted for the single-incision cholecystectomy to reduce scarring afterward and have less down time. “I needed to get back to work as soon as possible,” she said. “I had the surgery on a Friday and at University Medical Center and was back to work on Tuesday.”
In the traditional laparoscopic cholecystectomy (removal of the gallbladder), four ports are placed through four incisions made in the abdomen — one at the navel, one just below the chest and two at the right side of the abdomen. A laparoscope (camera) and special surgical instruments are passed through these ports into the interior of the abdomen to perform the removal of the gallbladder.
In single-incision surgery, the laparoscope and all of the instruments are inserted through a single 2-3 cm incision within the navel. Thus, the patient recovers with a single, almost invisible scar in the umbilical area. As with all laparoscopic surgeries, patients also experience less pain and shorter recovery times compared to open surgery.
"It is an evolution of proven laparoscopic techniques; it is an improvement in how we perform operations,” said Dr. Ong. “Minimally-invasive surgery is a very rapidly evolving area and continues to be a subject of intense interest in the field of surgery."
The UA Department of Surgery is committed to introducing new and cutting edge minimally invasive surgical technologies to decrease the amount of scarring, wound pain and duration of hospitalization, said Rainer Gruessner, MD, department chairman.
EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: A video of the procedure is available by calling Jo Marie Gellerman, (520) 626-7219.