Doc to demonstrate laproscopy on kids

They look like long syringes and are no thicker than 2 millimetres. "They" are the world’s thinnest laparoscopic instruments used to perform surgery on children, and will be used by Dr Felix Schier, a professor of paediatric surgery, University of Jena, at a three-day workshop on laparoscopic paediatric surgery. The workshop begins on January 26 at the V S Municipal General Hospital.

Laparoscopic surgery in which surgery of abdominal cavity is performed by inserting two’ thin needle-like instruments through tiny holes is common. But the use of this technique on children is not. The reasons, says the expert, are many.

"In adults, you can easily inflate the belly as they have a strong body. This is difficult in children since they have weak muscles and besides, in babies you do not have much.

space making the movement of laparoscopic instruments difficult," Dr Schier said. And if bleeding veins are cauterised in babies, smoke fills the cavity and you cannot see anything, he added.

That is why few surgeons use this surgery procedure for children, who need this non-invasive technique as much as adults do, if not more.

Advantages of the procedure are several:

the scar is so tiny that after a few weeks you cannot tell that the person has undergone surgery, he said.

The patient requires very little hospitalisation — something that every patient wants.

Besides, the open or invasive surgery is sometimes absolutely unnecessary. ‘Some operations are performed to remove a small lump. But even for that you have to make a big incision, which is absolutely unnecessary," the doctor said, playing with the set of his instruments that are as thin as 1.7 mm

and 2 mm and are reportedly "the world’s thinnest."

One of the reasons most surgeons stay away from these instruments is that they fear that the syringes might snap while performing the surgery, he said. "But with practice you can use them."

Dr Schier also said his institute has the world’s only three-dimensional monitor, looking at which the surgeon performs the operation. TV monitors used currently are two-dimensional. "In 3-D monitors, the doctors wear a pair of goggles in which they can see the inside image," he said.

During the workshop, some 200 doctors from across the country will be trained in these techniques. "In all 25 babies will be operated upon and the surgeries will be shown live to delegates using closed-circuit TVs," said DrAnirudh Shah, VS Hospital’s head of the paediatric department. Some 50 doctors will also be trained using plastic dummies, he said.

Republished from Indian Express