What are the advantages of minimally invasive treatment for gallstones

Gallstones are a common disease among middle-aged and elderly people. Its typical symptom is pain. The cause of gallstones is closely related to people’s daily eating and living habits. In the past, the only way to treat gallstones was to remove the gallbladder through surgery. However, with the advancement of medicine, gallstones can now be treated with minimally invasive surgery. So what are the advantages of minimally invasive treatment of gallstones compared with traditional treatments?

1. Safe and painless: Because the operation is minimally invasive, the patient will not feel any pain during the treatment and it is very safe.

2. Cleaner stone removal: Laparoscopic surgery has a wider and clearer field of view than traditional open surgery. A small hole of 0.3-0.5CM is made in the gallbladder to suck out bile and pus, and then the stones are removed.

3. No damage to internal organs: During laparoscopic surgery, CO2 is injected into the abdominal cavity to make the abdomen expand evenly to form pneumoperitoneum, the abdominal space is enlarged, and the liver moves upward. All internal organs can be clearly displayed on the TV screen, and even the tiny blood vessels are clearly displayed, which is conducive to the doctor to perform the operation carefully and patiently, and less damage to internal organs and blood vessels is caused than in open surgery.

4. Small trauma and unobvious scars: Usually after laparotomy, a "centipede foot"-like incision scar is left on the abdominal wall skin, which is unsightly. In terms of function, such as bending over and exerting force, it may also have adverse effects on life and work, and even have sequelae of keloids or painful scars. During laparoscopic surgery, 2-3 puncture holes are made in the abdominal wall, two of which are 1 cm long and can usually heal without stitches. Therefore, there is no obvious incision scar at all. For some patients, no scar can even be found on the abdominal wall three months after the operation.

5. Good effect and quick recovery: Generally, you can get out of bed and move around 6 to 8 hours after the operation (after the anesthesia takes effect). Under normal circumstances, you can eat and drink milk 1 day after the operation. After two days of appropriate infusion and anti-inflammatory treatment, the patient can be discharged from the hospital 2 to 3 days after the operation.

The above points are the typical advantages of minimally invasive treatment of gallstones. However, every treatment method has its defects. The defect of minimally invasive treatment of gallstones is that it is more complicated to treat larger gallstones. Some even require the gallstones to be broken up before they can be removed. Therefore, for patients with larger stones, the best treatment method is still surgery.