Pioneering scar-free operation to remove organs

Side of the natural orifice surgery More than 1,000 patients in Britain, Europe and the US have undergone so-called natural orifice surgery, which many doctors see as the biggest advance since keyhole was pioneered, it was reported here Wednesday.
Instead of cutting the skin, the new approach uses natural orifices, the mouth, urethra, vagina and rectum - as internal highways to access and remove or repair internal organs such as appendix, doctors at the Imperial College Healthcare hospital in London said.
The first woman to have her appendix removed through this technique needed only paracetamol after the procedure and was back at work two days later.
Already, it has been used to remove appendices, gallbladders, prostates and diseased kidneys.
New robotic cutting devices are in development and they snake their way through body cavities. This will increase the scope of the technique, the doctors added.
"With further advancement in medical robotics we are likely to be able to do more and more complex surgery through natural orifices", they added.
There are many trials under way around the world,' says Dr Mikael Sodergren, academic clinical lecturer in surgery and specialist registrar in general surgery at Imperial College Healthcare hospital in London.
The technique offers the multiple attractions of scarless surgery, reduced pain because of fewer and smaller incisions, and lower risk of infections.
To remove the gallbladder, the surgeon puts an endoscope through the patient's mouth and uses a tiny blade to make an incision in the stomach.
They can then gain access to the gallbladder, a small, pear-shaped organ used to store bile, located under the liver.
A balloon is inflated to expand the opening, and the gallbladder is cut into pieces so it fits into the endoscope and can be removed orally.
Even weight-loss surgery can be performed this way, professor Sodergen told reports.