Just Use Natural Openings for Surgery

Last month, doctors at the University of California, San Diego, removed the appendix of a 24-year-old patient through her vagina. Surgeons Santiago Horgan and Mark Talamini made greate strides in the technique called "natural orifice" surgery. They made a small incision in the wall of the patient's vagina, through which they passed surgical tools and a small camera to the appendix; and removing the organ through the same incision. Also, the surgeons also made a small cut in the bottom of the patient's bellybutton and inserted another camera through it to help guide surgery. This 50 minutes procedure left the with about a two day recovery.

However, the new procedure creates new complications. Though wound healing may be improved, there is still the danger of internal leakage and subsequent infection with cuts through the stomach or colon. The doctors are also still using traditional laparoscopic surgical tools; which are not ideal, because they aren't as flexible as surgeons really need for such extensive internal maneuvering.

This type of surgery for removing the appendix has lead doctors to go outside the box and think of new ways to remove internal organs. There have been reports of galbladders being removed with the same procedure. This new process has diminished the amount of surgical incisions from 5 to 1.

Link: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1727656,00.html?xid=feed-cnn-topics