New surgical technique could mean faster recovery

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A new surgical technique may help doctors operate on internal organs without making any cuts in the skin, researchers reported on Wednesday.

Using a flexible mini-telescope called an endoscope, surgeons said they could go in through a patient’s mouth and make a cut in the stomach wall to reach abdominal organs. They believe such a method will allow patients to heal more quickly after surgery.

Tests on animals showed they could get through the stomach wall and the thin membrane surrounding the stomach called the peritoneum to repair the intestines, liver, pancreas, gall bladder and uterus.

They call the new method flexible transgastric peritoneoscopy, or FTP, and describe it in the July issue of the journal Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.

“FTP may dramatically change the way we practice surgery,” said Dr. Anthony Kalloo of Johns Hopkins University, who led the study.

“The technique is less invasive than even laparoscopy because we don’t have to cut through the skin and muscle of the abdomen, and it may prove a viable alternate to existing surgical procedures.”

The researchers, at a network of several medical schools in the United States and Hong Kong, have tested their technique on pigs using standard endoscopic equipment. They are hoping for the development of specialized equipment before they begin tests on people.

In one experiment they took liver biopsy samples from pigs, which recovered completely with no signs of serious infection or other complications, they said.

“Because the lining of the stomach repairs faster than skin, recovery times should be reduced,” Kalloo said in a statement. 

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