23 - Laparoscope versus open abdominal surgery

I often wondered what all the fuss was about laparoscopic surgery and if it was all it’s cracked up to be. Having just had open abdominal surgery in the old-fashioned pre-laparoscopic way, I wonder no more. Having a gallbladder removed through an open surgical incision is a gut-wrenching experience. As one surgeon said to me afterwards: ‘You have been hit by a train’, an analogy I thought at the time appropriate enough.

It's the size of the incision that’s key. A laparoscope requires an incision of an inch or two, open surgery incision length 10 to 12 inches. The former heals up in a few days, then later leaves you languishing in a hospital bed for two weeks in my case. After seven weeks in hospitals, I am finally discharged.  I’m still having kind nurses coming in here three days a week to change the dressings. That’s open abdominal surgery for you! Sometimes it simply can’t be avoided of course.

It was the discovery of fibre optics, making it possible to shine light into an operating field otherwise out of reach, that allowed for the development of laparoscopic surgical procedures. This, and of course, let’s not forget the people behind this emerging surgical technology. The highly trained and skilful men and women who work at the coalface, the surgeons.