Spring Break
College of Medicine surgeon performs breakthrough surgery
By: Sravanthi Dama
Issue date: 6/1/07 Section: News
Originally published: 6/1/07 at 1:56 AM EST
Last update: 6/1/07 at 1:56 AM EST
Originally published: 6/1/07 at 1:56 AM EST
Last update: 6/1/07 at 1:56 AM EST
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Last week, Paul G. Curcillo II, M.D., Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Vice Chairman and Associate Professor of the Department of Surgery at Drexel University College of Medicine performed the first ever single-port laparoscopic removal of a gallbladder from a 28-year-old female.
Laparoscopic surgery is minimally invasive-small incisions, or ports, are made in the abdomen. A laparoscope, which is a small camera, is inserted through an incision along with other surgical instruments. The laparoscope helps the surgeon see the inside of the body cavity; surgeons are then able to manipulate the instruments to remove organs such as the gallbladder or to repair hernias and other tears within the body cavity.
Traditional laparoscopic surgery involves the creation of approximately four to six half-inch incisions with the abdominal cavity. Last week's single port, access gallbladder surgery was the culmination of years of work and experimentation. Traditionally, in laparoscopic gallbladder surgery, one six-inch incision has been made in the abdomen. In previous years, Curcillo was able to reduce the amount of ports, or incisions, that were used in laparoscopic surgery.
"We use four incisions that are an inch each. That means four holes, four stab wounds to the muscle, four sites of infection, four sites of hernia and four sites that could mess up," Curcillo said.
The difficult aspect of the procedure is being able to accurately dissect the gallbladder away from the surrounding blood vessels, muscle and liver without disrupting the integrity of the rest of the body. Though laparoscopy is an innovative surgical procedure, the instrumentation used is very stiff. Often, it is difficult for surgeons to maneuver instruments through the incisions.
To remedy the stiff instrumentation problem, Curcillo used a set of instruments called Real Hands High Dexterity Instrumentation, developed by Novare, a surgical instrument company based in California. The instruments allow the surgeon a greater degree of freedom because the tips of the instruments bend the way a surgeon's fingers bend.
Laparoscopic surgery is minimally invasive-small incisions, or ports, are made in the abdomen. A laparoscope, which is a small camera, is inserted through an incision along with other surgical instruments. The laparoscope helps the surgeon see the inside of the body cavity; surgeons are then able to manipulate the instruments to remove organs such as the gallbladder or to repair hernias and other tears within the body cavity.
Traditional laparoscopic surgery involves the creation of approximately four to six half-inch incisions with the abdominal cavity. Last week's single port, access gallbladder surgery was the culmination of years of work and experimentation. Traditionally, in laparoscopic gallbladder surgery, one six-inch incision has been made in the abdomen. In previous years, Curcillo was able to reduce the amount of ports, or incisions, that were used in laparoscopic surgery.
"We use four incisions that are an inch each. That means four holes, four stab wounds to the muscle, four sites of infection, four sites of hernia and four sites that could mess up," Curcillo said.
The difficult aspect of the procedure is being able to accurately dissect the gallbladder away from the surrounding blood vessels, muscle and liver without disrupting the integrity of the rest of the body. Though laparoscopy is an innovative surgical procedure, the instrumentation used is very stiff. Often, it is difficult for surgeons to maneuver instruments through the incisions.
To remedy the stiff instrumentation problem, Curcillo used a set of instruments called Real Hands High Dexterity Instrumentation, developed by Novare, a surgical instrument company based in California. The instruments allow the surgeon a greater degree of freedom because the tips of the instruments bend the way a surgeon's fingers bend.
