What is Single-Site Gallbladder Removal Surgery?
If you have severe gallbladder symptoms, your doctor may recommend gallbladder removal. It’s an organ you can live without. Gallbladder removal is known as a cholecystectomy. It can be performed using open surgery through a large incision or with minimally invasive surgery known as laparoscopic surgery. With traditional laparoscopy and multi-port da Vinci surgery, surgeons operate through a few small incisions. With single incision traditional laparoscopy and da Vinci single-site surgery, we operate through one small incision in the navel (belly button).
Why da Vinci® Single-Site® Gallbladder Removal Surgery?
The da Vinci System features a magnified 3D high-definition vision system coupled with flexible single-site instruments. These features enable your general surgeon to operate with enhanced vision and precision. Patients who choose da Vinci single-site surgery experience virtually no scarring. As a result of da Vinci technology, single-site cholecystectomy offers the following potential benefits:
- Low rate of major complications
- Low conversion rate to open surgery
- Virtually scar-less results
- High patient satisfaction
- Minimal pain
A da Vinci single-site cholecystectomy offers the following potential benefits, similar to single-incision laparoscopy:
- Low rate of major complications
- Low blood loss
- Low rate of wound infection
- Short hospital stay
- Virtually scar-less surgery
Potential risks of a cholecystectomy procedure include:
- Injury to bile ducts, liver, pancreas
- Injury to small or large intestine
- Pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas)
In addition to the above risks, there are risks related to minimally invasive surgery, including da Vinci single-site cholecystectomy, such as multiple incisions, conversion to another surgical technique, urinary retention and hernia (bulging tissue) at the incision site.
