A surgeon at the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago is one of the first in the Midwest to use a new surgical technique that requires only one small incision to remove a diseased kidney.
Dr. Leslie Deane, assistant professor of urology and director of laparoscopy, endourology and robotic urologic surgery at UIC, inserted a camera and two surgical instruments through a port placed in a one-inch incision in the patient's belly button and remove a diseased kidney the size of an orange.
Surgical techniques have been advancing, as better surgical instruments and the introduction of cameras inside the body have made it possible to operate through small incisions. While laparoscopic approaches generally have fewer complications, shorter hospital stays, and faster recovery times than open surgery, they still usually require three to five incisions, each with attendant risks of bleeding, hernia, and scarring.
The technique called single incision laparoscopic surgery, or SILS, "gives us better pain control following surgery," said Deane. "And, of course, there is a much better cosmetic outcome for many patients. The small scar essentially disappears into their belly button."
Deane's surgical team included his chief resident Dr. Alexis Chesrow and senior resident Dr. Hector Pimentel and the nursing staff Elrayna Aten, RN and Annie Marrs, RN.
Chicago resident Eddie Bibbs, 55, is the mother of four grown children and has a number of grandchildren. She says she is not planning on wearing a bikini anytime soon, but was grateful that the simple incision kept bleeding to a minimum during her April 16 surgery to remove a diseased kidney. "I didn't need any transfusion at all," she said.