Keyhole Surgery

What is it?
Laparoscopic surgery, also called minimally invasive surgery (MIS), bandaid surgery, or keyhole surgery, is a modern surgical technique. There are a number of advantages to the patient with laparoscopic surgery versus the more common, open procedure. These include reduced pain due to smaller incisions, reduced hemorrhaging and shorter recovery time. The key element is the use of a laparoscope, a long fiber optic cable system that allows viewing of the affected area by snaking the cable from a more distant, but more easily accessible location.

Laparoscopic surgery includes operations within the abdominal or pelvic cavities, whereas keyhole surgery performed on the thoracic or chest cavity is called thoracoscopic surgery. Specific surgical instruments used in a laparoscopic surgery include obstetrical forceps, scissors, probes, dissectors, hooks, and retractors. Laparoscopic and thoracoscopic surgery belong to the broader field of endoscopy. The first laparoscopic procedure was performed by German surgeon Georg Kelling in 1901.

When do we use Keyhole?

We are using it for abdominal surgeries such as ovariectomies (spay), cryptorchid surgery (undescended testicles) and organ biopsies.

What are the benefits?
Keyhole surgery is a highly skilled procedure and has tremendous advantages over traditional open surgery including:

• Smaller incisions, so there is less trauma to the muscles and other tissue
• recovery time is much reduced
• there is less pain associated with the surgeries
• a lower risk of infections
• reduced surgery time and therefore time spent under anaesthesia