Laparoscopic surgery: advantages and disadvantages

While you are due to undergo surgery very soon, the surgeon informs you no more than that it will be done under laparoscopy. You experience this word as another test. This anxiety haunts you day and night. And yet there is nothing easier than this diagnostic and surgical technique, developed by Dr. Raoul Palmer in 1944.

Principles and indications of laparoscopy

It is generally accepted that in the context of gynecological surgery, abdominal or visceral surgery obesity surgery, in particular massive obesity, or in urology in the case of a prostatectomy, all that is needed is small incisions to insert a camera (luminous optics) into the abdomen in order to carry out and perform a surgical operation, then talk about laparoscopy. Therefore, without knowing it, we reduce laparoscopy, as it is also called, to a simple surgical intervention.

However, it is primarily a diagnostic method. Which with the help of an endoscope (a device with a lighting system and a video camera) allows you to make a medical diagnosis. In this case, we are talking about laparoscopy whereas in the case of surgery we are talking about celiosurgery.

In principle, laparoscopy does not require opening the abdominal wall to access the abdominal cavity.

Laparoscopy procedure

On the contrary, after the necessary general anesthesia, the surgeon makes one or more small incisions at the level of the navel, through which the endoscope is inserted. Then, using carbon dioxide, he inflates the abdomen and creates a space through which he can introduce the instruments that he will use for the operation, and finally, he will place trocars, a kind of tube, whose role is to prevent the abdomen from being deflated. During the operation, he will use the screen to see what he is doing.

Advantages and disadvantages of laparoscopy

Laparoscopic surgery has many advantages. In this case, the operational risk is reduced, as well as postoperative complications. Indeed, by providing the surgeon with a certain degree of gestural precision, laparoscopy avoids the trauma and other damage associated with conventional surgery. This makes operating rooms comfortable.

In addition, this surgical technique reduces the risk of infection; in some cases, reduce the duration of the operation or reduce the duration of hospitalization and sick leave. Not forgetting that on an aesthetic level, this guarantees small scars, sometimes invisible.

However, this is an operation that causes some difficulties for the surgeon optically, tactilely and in terms of the mobility of the instruments, so it is important to consult a qualified surgeon. Not forgetting that the residual carbon dioxide used can cause discomfort to the patient such as bloating or residual pain. Thus, despite the interest, laparoscopy is associated with operational risks, such as the risk of bleeding, fistulas, embolism, etc.