Laparoscopic Colectomy
A colectomy is a surgical procedure designed to remove all or part of the colon that has been affected by disease. Individuals who have cancer, intestinal polyps, irritable bowel disease, intestinal bleeding or blockage, diverticulitis (when pouches form in the wall of the colon and get inflamed or infected), or a rectal prolaspe (the rectum slips or fall out of place) may require a colectomy. Laparoscopic surgery is a minimally invasive colectomy procedure that utilizes 3 to 5 small incisions, small surgical instruments, and a tube with a camera on the end (a laparoscope). The laparoscope is used to project images of the diseased area onto a screen that the surgeon can view during the surgery. Prior to the colectomy, the surgeon inflates the patient’s abdomen with carbon dioxide for easier visualization and access to the affected area of the colon. Then, the small instruments are inserted into the incisions in order to examine and remove diseased tissue. Once the tissue is removed, the surgeon reattaches the remaining healthy parts of the colon together, reattaches the remaining section of colon to the rectum, or creates a colostomy (an external opening through the abdomen for waste removal). Laparoscopic colectomies have several advantages over “open surgeries” (tradiational procedures that use one long incision). Patients who have laparoscopic surgery experience less pain and discomfort, have a shorter recovery time, return to eating a regular diet more quickly, return to daily activities more rapidly, and experience less severe scarring than patients who have open surgery.