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How Surgery Is Done

How Surgery Is Done

December 30, 2021
Ray Scott Daugherty, MD
Ray Scott Daugherty, MD

Colon and Rectal Surgery

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Transcript

With open surgery, your surgeon will actually split your abdominal muscles and open and actually reach into your abdomen and remove that colon cancer and that portion of the colon, and it’ll all be done basically with their two hands inside your abdomen and actually feeling and removing.

 

Laparoscopic surgery, we actually place a small incision and a camera through there, and then we use long instruments that are straight — we call them straight sticks basically, because they’re stiff — and we’ll actually maneuver the colon with those straight instruments to resect and then potentially put back together. Sometimes surgeons will actually make a small incision to place one hand into the abdomen and do what’s called hand assisted laparoscopic surgery. This will help them also with maneuvering the colon.

 

And then a newer technique is the robotic technique, which is right now with the DaVinci platform, there are other newer platforms coming out, but with this we’ll make small incisions and will actually place the arms of the robot within your abdomen. And some of the benefit of that is these arms actually are flexible, and we actually have a 3D camera to visualize the intra-abdominal contents in your colon and dissect with wristed instruments and a 3D camera, which does aid, especially in the pelvis with rectal cancers.

 

Key Takeaways

1. With open surgery, your surgeon will split your abdominal muscles and open and reach into your abdomen and remove that colon cancer and that portion of the colon basically with their two hands.

2. In laparoscopic surgery, camera is placed through a small incision and maneuver the colon with straight instruments to resect and then potentially put back together.

3. Sometimes surgeons will actually make a small incision to place one hand into the abdomen and do what’s called hand assisted laparoscopic surgery.

4. A newer technique is the robotic technique, which is right now with the DaVinci platform to make small incisions and will place the arms of the robot within your abdomen.