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TREATMENTS & PROCEDURES

Operative Laparoscopy

Laparoscopy is a surgical technique in which the abdominal cavity (belly) is inflated with carbon dioxide gas (CO₂) and distended. A small (3-11mm thick) telescope (resembling a long and thin tube) is then inserted through a tiny incision just below the belly button, into the abdominal cavity. This telescope, called a laparoscope, has a light source at its end and a camera that allows the surgical team to watch on TV monitors what is inside the belly under magnification and in great detail. The gas already inflated inside helps keep the walls of the abdomen and the organs separated from each other and allows excellent exposure. Additional (one to 3) 5-10mm incisions are made close to the pubic bone to insert long, thin instruments. These instruments are essentially extensions of the surgeon's hands allowing the surgeon to use these instruments from outside the body and perform surgery inside the abdominal cavity.

Video-laparoscopy introduced in the late 1970's and early 1980's by Drs. Nezhat, is the performance of laparoscopy using special video cameras attached to the end of the laparoscope. This allows the surgeon to watch a TV monitor and perform the procedure with excellent visualization assuming a comfortable standing posture.

Most importantly the whole operating room including assistant surgeon(s), nurses and observing physicians are able to participate in the procedure. Dr. Camran Nezhat, the pioneer of videolaparoscopy, first introduced this technique worldwide in the early 1980's. This brought about an "explosion" in research and clinical applications of laparoscopy all over the world. Since the late 1980's, almost all private or university-based gynecologic services and their residency training programs, use videolaparoscopy, which is now considered the standard of care for a variety of gynecologic procedures. Thanks to videolaparoscopy what used to be a single surgeon's mostly diagnostic procedure, is now a surgical team's combined effort in performing multiple and complex surgical operations.

Today laparoscopic surgery has many gynecologic applications including ovarian cysts, tubal reversal, endometriosis, infertility, management of fibroids, hysterectomy as well as an increasing role in gynecologic oncology.

Clinical Articles on Operative Laparoscopy