Why Single Incision Laparoscopic Surgery Is Beneficial

By Pamela Barnes


The thought of going through surgery is dreadful regardless if one has experienced it or not. Being cut open sounds like something no one puts in their bucket list. But due to the deteriorating nature of everything that lives, circumstances dictate people to go to the hospital to get sliced with a scalpel for a chance of surviving.

With the many years that the surgical arts have been practiced, medical professionals are bound to come up with different types of procedures. Even now they are still constantly innovating to see which process would benefit humans the most. A relatively current endoscopy procedure is Single Incision Laparoscopic Surgery. SILS is the use of only one entry point to reduce the likelihood of complications that happen during open operations.

The beauty that SILS offers is how it is fast and virtually scar less. Hypothetically, that city dweller from New York who does not have time to be sick and is too fashionable to have scars on their stomach, might need his appendix removed. SILS is how they get it done fast with the least cosmetic damage.

With SILS, the patient feels less post operation pain, since the area operated on is not cut wide open. This is due to SILS being a procedure where a single incision is made in the belly button to make way for the fiber optic cable to get through. This cable is connected to a screen that serves as the eyes of the surgeon during the procedure.

Since this type of laparoscopy uses only a single port, there is a reduced risk in infection, a ratio of one versus five against normal operating procedures. This method is generally called MAS or Minimal Access Surgery. Since the patient does not feel as much pain, their narcotic dosage is also lessened along with their recovery time.

SILS is commonly used for many abdominal area surgeries. Appendectomy, or removing the appendix is a very common one among children. Single port surgery helps the gastrointestinal tract not to be unprotected from the contaminants in the air of the operating room since the stomach is not being cut open. This prevents the stomach lining from drying up to a compromising level and it makes it less likely for harmful bacteria to be absorbed.

Surgical processes always has varying methods to choose from. While SILS does have a lot of uptakes from routine surgical practice, there are always some drawbacks that need to be mentioned. The main issue for this procedure is restriction of movement and the clashing of instruments. New and improving medical technology has been the only way that surgeons have made it gradually easier for them to do the procedure ever since.

This method of MAS has gained a lot of popularity among surgeons and the medical industry. This method did not show any significant increase in surgery complications like bile duct injuries and incision caused hernias since the start of laparoscopy as a surgical method. Moreover, it is more likely for patients to prefer having only one incision than the regular four or five.

There are challenges that go with SILS, but it is difficult to deny the uptake of the method and the good response it receives. Both patient and surgeon are more willing to submit to an increase in operating time and a period to learning the process than to risk the complications of open operation methods. Soon enough technology should be able to provide solutions to see through these handicaps.




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