Less Pain and Decreased Hospital Stay Using Minimally Invasive Surgery
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Division of Minimally Invasive Surgery at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital has created a mark of performing up to 90 % of their cancer resections using MIS methods and is amongst the highest percentage in the country.
- New York, NY (1888PressRelease) May 25, 2011 - The new "gold standard" for colon cancer is Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS), aka laparoscopy, which minimizes injury to the abdominal wall, decreases postoperative pain, and shortens the time patients need to be in the hospital. Cancer of the colon and rectum is the 3rd most common cause of cancer related death in the United States. And about 150,000 new cases are diagnosed each year.
St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital (SLRH) is staffed by Board Certified Colon and Rectal surgeons that have pioneered and developed minimally invasive surgical methods. Colon and rectal surgeons at SLRH perform majority of their cancer resections using MIS methods, amongst the highest percentage in the country.
Up until the 1990's the only way to carry out a colon or rectal resection was through a 5 to 9 inch long single incision in the abdominal wall that exposed the abdominal intestine. This is called the traditional or "open" approach. Minimally invasive operations are carried out through three to five 3/8th inch long incisions made on the abdominal wall through which long thin hollow tubes, called "ports", are inserted.
Because no lengthy incisions are made, patients have less pain and need less pain medication. Also, patients are able to walk sooner and farther and also eat earlier and have their first bowel movement quicker than after the traditional open, large incision operation. After an MIS operation, the scars are smaller and the cosmetic results better than after an open resection. There is also good evidence that MIS patients' immunologic and physiologic functions are better preserved than after open incision surgery. MIS operations are simply less traumatic than the equivalent open procedure.
Some of the surgeons in the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery participated in the large randomized American colon cancer trial (the C.O.S.T. Study) and remain involved in a number of clinical and basic science studies that seek to improve and better understand MIS methods and their impact on patients. Patients are treated with respect and dignity at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital and the CCCNY.
For more information about colorectal cancer, the options for treatment, including Minimally Invasive Surgery, and the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital please visit www.slrsurgery.org. There is a link to an informative webcast regarding colorectal cancer that discusses the treatment options and also provides several patient testimonials from cancer patients treated by a SLRH colon and rectal surgeon.
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