Laparoscopic Colectomy
Conventional Colon surgery:
- Patients undergoing colon surgery often face a long and difficult recovery because the traditional “open” procedures are highly invasive.
- In most cases, surgeons are required to make a long incision.
- Surgery results in an average hospital stay of a week or more and usually 6 weeks of recovery.
Laparoscopic Colon Resection:
- A technique known as minimally invasive laparoscopic colon surgery allows surgeons to perform many common colon procedures through small incisions.
- Depending on the type of procedure, patients may leave the hospital in a few days and return to normal activities more quickly than patients recovering from open surgery.
- In most laparoscopic colon resections, surgeons operate through 4 or 5 small openings (each about a quarter inch) while watching an enlarged image of the patient’s internal organs on a television monitor.
- In some cases, one of the small openings may be lengthened to 2 or 3 inches to complete the procedure.
Preparation:
- Most diseases of the colon are diagnosed with one of two tests: a colonoscopy or barium enema.
- A colonoscope is a soft, bendable tube about the thickness of the index finger which is inserted into the anus and then advanced through the entire large intestine.
- A barium enema is a special X-ray where a white “milk-shake fluid” is flushed into the rectum and by using mild pressure is pushed throughout the entire large intestine.
- These tests allow the surgeon to look inside of the colon.
- Sometimes a CT scan of the abdomen will be necessary. Prior to the operation, other blood tests, electrocardiogram (EKG) or a chest x-ray might be required.
Complications:
These complications include: Bleeding-Infection-A leak where the colon was connected back together.-Injury to adjacent organs such as the small intestine, ureter, or bladder-Blood clots to the lungs.