Laparoscopy, Open Surgery and Endurology

Open surgery

Open surgery is generally an invasive surgery. It involves traditional method of making an incision of 12 inches long on your abdomen to view the surgical site directly. Open surgery is performed under general anesthesia. The muscles and tissues are cut and moved apart to view the internal organs. The abnormality is rectified with surgery and the incision is closed with stitches or staples. The procedure may take 3 or more hours to complete.

Endourology

Endourology is a minimally invasive surgical procedure performed through natural body openings, without the need for any incisions. This technique uses a narrow lighted tube with a camera attached, called an endoscope to help in viewing and treating the urological problem. Once the endoscope is advanced up the urethra, bladder or ureter, your doctor gets a clear view of the problem. Small, flexible instruments such as graspers, scalpels, cautery, lasers or retrieval baskets are then passed through the endoscopic tube to perform the surgery.

Laparoscopy

Laparoscopy, also called key-hole surgery, is a minimally invasive surgical procedure that involves the use of a small telescope. During laparoscopy, the laparoscope, a narrow lighted tube with a small video camera attached is inserted into your abdominal cavity through a small incision (2-3 incisions of half an inch each). The video camera helps your doctor view the internal organs clearly. Various surgical instruments are then inserted into other small incisions to perform the surgery. After the surgery, the incisions are closed securely with stitches. The procedures that can be performed laparoscopically are nephrectomy (removal of kidney), pyeloplasty (removal of blockage between ureter and kidney) and decortication (opening and draining of cysts).

Advantages

The advantages of laparoscopy over open surgery are:

  • Minimally invasive surgery
  • Shorter hospital stay
  • Less post-operative pain
  • Reduced risk for complications
  • Greater cosmetic value

The advantages of endourology include:

  • No need for incisions
  • Can be performed as an outpatient procedure
  • Reduced risk for complications

Disadvantages

The disadvantages of open surgery are

  • Invasive surgery
  • Extended hospital stay
  • Post-surgical pain
  • Potential injury to surrounding organs
  • Risk of hernia of the surgical wound
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