All About Minimally Invasive Surgery

Minimally invasive surgery utilizes modern technology to perform most surgical operations through small incisions.  Advanced fiber-optic light sources attached to computer enhanced digital cameras and high quality optical laparoscopes allow our surgeons to visualize the entire abdominal and thoracic cavities.  All this is done through incisions less than one half of an inch.  Specially designed instruments permit our surgeons to dissect, remove, repair, and reconstruct our patients’ pathologies through these small incisions.  This technology is combined with the most modern energy sources available to minimize blood loss and prevent damage to near-by tissues.

Table of Contents

Advantages of Minimally Invasive Surgery

Operations performed at St Barnabas Hospital 

Equipment used during Minimally Invasive Surgery

Meet the Surgical Staff

Advantages of Minimally Invasive Surgery

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There are several advantages to minimally invasive surgery besides the obvious reasons of less pain and smaller scars.  Studies have shown that the detrimental affects of inflammation are drastically reduced in minimally invasive surgery vs. open surgery.  This decrease in inflammation translates into feeling better and being less sick after surgery.  In general our patients are able to go home and return to work much sooner.  With the smaller incisions there is less risk of infection and future wound hernia formation.  There is also less scar tissue on the inside, which means that there is smaller chance of future bowel blockage.  Our patients also experience less blood loss and are less likely to need a blood transfusion.  Some operations are actually done better than open surgeries because of the better-magnified view the laparoscope offers.

Minimally Invasive Operations performed at St Barnabas Hospital    

• Cholecystectomy  (removal of gallbladder)

• Ventral hernia repair

• Inguinal hernia repair (groin hernias)

• Appendectomy (removal of appendix)

• Diagnostic laparosocopy

• Colectomy/Colostomy (removal of part of the colon)

• Gastrostomy/Jejunostomy feeding tubes

• Gastric resection for benign disease

• Lyses of Adhesions for pain/SBO

• Stricturaplasty (making narrow intestines wider)

• Fundoplication for reflux disease (wrapping the stomach around itself to prevent heartburn)

• Splenectomy (removing the spleen)

• Adrenalectomy (removing the adrenal gland)

• Thorascopic Surgery (operations inside the chest cavity)

***We do not currently do bariatric surgery***

Equipment used during minimally invasive surgery

Laparoscope:  A special magnifying lens that goes inside and allows our surgeons to see objects magnified and at different angles.

Camera:  This takes the image of the laparoscope and converts it to a digital image that is enhanced and placed on a monitor that our surgeons use to see the image.

Light source:  A high-energy light is created and transmitted through a fiber optic cable to illuminate the area of the surgery.

Gas insufflators:  Carbon dioxide gas is blown inside the abdomen to create a space to do the surgery.  This gas is special in that it will not burn or explode like oxygen and can be easily absorbed by the body.

Trocars:  These are plastic tubes that are placed through the incisions.  This allows the surgical instruments to easily move in and out of the body through these tubes while maintaining an airtight seal.

Staplers:  These machines allow our surgeons to simultaneously cut and seal tissues during surgery.

Harmonic Scalpel:  This device uses sound energy to cut tissue and stop bleeding

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Graspers/dissectors/shears:  Tools which allow us to manipulate tissue and to perform the basic portions of the operations.