Information leaflet on Key Hole ( =Laparoscopic) Surgery
What is Laparoscopic Surgery?
Laparoscopic or “key-hole” surgery allows us, with the help of modern
equipment, to perform actually minimally invasive surgery. This has many
benefits for our patients and has completely revolutionized lots of routine
surgical procedures.
The basis of the equipment is formed by a lens (endoscope OR
laparoscope), video-camera and monitor set up that results in excellent
visualisation of the internal structures and organs in the patients body
cavities.
Because Minimally Invasive “Keyhole” Surgery Is The
Best Option For Your Pet.
Almost all surgical procedures, including routine spays, will induce pain to
our patients. Modern pain relief medications administered before, during
and after surgery have helped us to significantly reduce the way our patients
experience this pain. However newer laparoscopic “true” keyhole surgery
techniques greatly reduce the amount of tissue damage and bruising
created by the surgery in the first place, hence these techniques are really
minimally invasive and are the preferred option whenever possible. This
is now widely accepted in human medicine but is only starting to be used
routinely in veterinary patients. One reason is possibly the slightly higher
price for laparoscopic surgery due to the higher cost of the modern equipment used in these procedures. We believe that
the surgical advantages are certainly worth the small extra cost.
Why Laparoscopy?
Small incision size: minimises tissue trauma and therefore pain and small
holes heal faster and suffer less complications. Tissue is removed without
tearing: reduces pain even more. Better visualization of the whole surgical
procedure due to the magnification of the laparoscopic lens-camera system
and clear image on large screen at convenient eye-level of the surgeon: less
risk of complications.
Your Pet Is Back To Normal Much More Quickly And The
Experience Should Be Much
Less Painful!!!
Ovariectomy Versus Ovariohysterectomy
The term ovariohysterectomy means to surgically remove the ovaries and
the uterus. The term ovariectomy means to only surgically remove
the ovaries.
Traditionally in the UK most vets spay a female dog by performing an
open ovariohysterectomy. This is actually done by creating a 2-3 inch[57cm] incision in the mid-abdomen. Each ovarian ligament is torn from its
attachment, the blood vessels are clamped and then ligated with sutures
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before being cut. The uterus or womb is dissected free towards the
cervix and then both ovaries and uterine horns are lifted outside the
abdominal cavity, the cervix is clamped and ligated and then cut loose
so that the uterus and both ovaries can be removed. Finally the incision
is closed with 3 layers of sutures. Particularly the tearing of the ovarian
ligaments causes bruising to the abdominal wall and is an important
source of post-operative pain in a traditional spay surgery.
The laparoscopic option allows us to remove these organs with much
less trauma and therefore minimal pain sensation. The procedure is
done through 2 or 3 small holes into the abdomen. Each hole is about
5-10mm in length depending on the size of the patient. We then make
controlled cuts inside the abdomen to remove the tissues rather than
having to tear the tissues to be able to lift the ovaries and uterus outside
the body, thus vastly reducing pain from bruising that occurs with the
traditional surgery method. Each little hole requires just 2 small sutures to close after a final inspection with the camera
deep in the abdomen to check for any residual bleeding.
Traditionally the uterus was removed during a spay as it was assumed that a number of dogs would develop disease of the
uterus in later life if it was not removed.
However recent research in the USA and The Netherlands [University of Utrecht] has shown that uterine disease will only
occur as a direct result of the hormonal stimulation originating in the ovaries of unneutered female dogs during the
dogs seasons.
Therefore it makes logical sense to only perform ovariectomies rather than ovariohysterectomies providing there is no
disease process in the uterus yet. This has been confirmed by long-term follow-up studies on large numbers of dogs in the
USA and Utrecht.
Another potential benefit is that the incidence of urinary incontinence in later life is likely to be lower after laparoscopic
ovariectomies compared with open ovario-hysterectomies, although long-term follow-up studies regarding this issue have
not been published yet.
Again, as less tissue needs to be dissected and removed the recovery time after surgery is much shorter and generally also a
lot smoother.
Laparoscopic Ovariectomy = the safest way to neuter (spay) a female dog!
This Is Why We Strongly Advocate Laparoscopic Ovariectomy Over
Open Ovariohysterectomies.
Please Feel Free To Discuss This Option With Your Vet At Your Next Visit Or
Even Over The Phone. We Will Endeavour To Answer All Your Questions
A whole range of other surgeries performed routinely in small animal patients
can benefit from a laparoscopic approach.
Possible surgeries are:
LIVER BIOPSY | PANCREATIC BIOPSY | KIDNEY BIOPSY
BOWEL BIOPSY | PREVENTIVE GASTROPEXY IN DOGS PRONE
TO GASTRIC TORSION
DIAGNOSTIC EXPLORATION OF THE ABDOMEN
DIAGNOSTIC EXPLORATION OF THE CHEST
CRYPTORCHID SURGERY IN MALE DOGS
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