Distinct advantages of laparoscopy

In general, these types of surgeries are done in major quaternary centres with adequate facilities in terms of medical personnel, equipments and support systems.

“Laparoscopy is emerging as a tool to conduct onco-surgeries with utmost precision without any pain and blood loss,” says Dr K Muruganandham, Head of Department & Senior Consultant – Urology, Gleneagles Global Health City. Laparoscopy for cancer has expanded to include diagnosing, staging, treating, monitoring, and palliating many types of malignancies.

“Laparoscopic guided biopsy allows the confirmation of malignancy by providing tissue specimens, especially in cases where other means of biopsy are not feasible. Laparoscopic staging can identify undetectable disease, which often dramatically alters therapy. With increased accuracy in staging, many patients can avoid pain and prolonged hospital stay of a non-therapeutic laparotomy,” added Dr K Muruganandham.

There have been a few concerns raised that the risk of cancer recurrence in laparoscopy is same as open surgery and related outcomes of laparoscopic surgery are as good as open surgery.

Laparoscopy is offered for kidney, adrenal, prostate and bladder cancer. The removal of the whole kidney which harbours the tumour is called as radical nephrectomy that can be safely done through laparoscopy without violating the oncological principles. Complex renal tumours which were normally being removed through a large abdominal incision can now be done through a few keyhole-sized incisions in the abdomen and a small retrieval incision hidden below the waist line.

Adrenal glands are endocrine organs located on top of the kidneys and they produce adrenaline and other steroid hormones. The preferred treatment for the adrenal gland tumours is removal of the entire adrenal gland called Adrenalectomy.

Prostate gland removal of the entire prostate gland is called as radical prostatectomy. This operation can be done by minimal invasive approach and when compared to open radical prostatectomy, the minimal invasive technique offers the advantage of magnification, better identification and also a short recovery time.

Bladder cancer commonly occurs in older men especially in chronic smokers and the operation can be accomplished with minimal invasive approach.