|
Home / Procedures /
Laparoscopic Colectomy
Most patients in need of a partial colectomy
are candidates for a laparoscopic approach. The traditional “open” procedure
is safe but results in an average hospital stay of a week or more
and usually 6 weeks of recovery. Laparoscopic colectomy amounts
to the same operation only through smaller incisions.
It is important for your surgeon to know
as much as possible about your condition before surgery. This
might require obtaining a colonoscopy, CT scan, or a barium enema.
It is also very important that your colon be as clean as possible
before your surgery. This requires an oral bowel prep.
During a typical laparoscopic colectomy 3 – 4
one centimeter incisions are made in the abdominal wall. Working
with specially designed instruments the surgeon will first free
the colon from its attachments to adjacent organs. The concerning
segment of colon is then safely divided and its blood supply
is clamped. One of the laparoscopic incisions is then enlarged
to allow removal of this colon segment. The limbs of the remaining
colon are then reconnected with either sutures, staples, or both.
The entire surgery takes approximately two
hours and patients are typically hospitalized for about three
nights. Exhaustion and loss of appetite are often present for
the first week of recovery. Many patients can return to a normal
schedule within three weeks from surgery.
|
