KEYHOLE surgery allows people to recover faster after abdominal operations and leaves them with only a small scar. Now a team at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, is proposing a radical new method that might improve recovery times even further and leave no visible scars.
The technique involves inserting an endoscope down the throat and into the abdominal cavity through a hole in the stomach. The stomach is first washed out with an antibacterial solution. The team says this is preferable to cutting through the skin and muscle of the abdominal wall and should reduce recovery time as the stomach wall heals faster than skin. They have successfully tested the method in pigs, performing operations such as removing a liver sample or blocking the fallopian tubes (Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, vol 60, p 114).
Many other surgeons, however, believe the method is too risky. They warn that any leakage from the stomach into the abdominal cavity, either during the operation or afterwards if the incision is not properly closed, could cause life-threatening complications.
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