Combined Laparoscopy and Colonoscopy Takes Less Than One Day

An experimental procedure, laparoscopic surgery combined with carbon dioxide (CO2)- assisted colonoscopy, allows most patients to return home in less than a day.

The new procedure, developed at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center (NY, USA), is a combination of traditional colonoscopy and laparoscopic surgery, in which surgeons inflate the colon with CO2, locate the polyp via colonoscopy, and then use new laparoscopic techniques to facilitate the endoscopic removal of the lesion. The procedure can be improved with the laparoscopic placement of sutures where the polyp once was.

The procedure was developed for patients diagnosed with extensive or difficult-to-remove polyps in their large intestine, such as those that are flattened against the colon wall or in hard-to-reach places. Unlike regular polyps, these extensive or difficult-to-reach polyps until now have necessitated open surgery, which requires a three-to-seven-day hospital stay.

"It's reassuring to our patients getting preventive colonoscopies that no matter what kind of polyp we find, in almost all instances, we can remove it with minimal discomfort and inconvenience,” said lead developer of the procedure Dr. Jeffrey Milsom, professor of surgery at Weill Medical College of Cornell University and attending surgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell. "Unlike regular air that is used in traditional colonoscopic procedures, carbon dioxide doesn't cause the patient to become bloated or make the bowels distended. It also quickly deflates, giving us room to remove the polyp.”



Related Links:
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center