Laparoscopic Surgery

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Hormone therapy :: Brachytherapy :: Surgery TURP :: Laparoscopic Surgery

Laparoscopy also known as keyhole surgery is the art of performing surgery through the smaller incisions using tiny instruments or telescopic instruments. Laparoscope is a narrow tube with a camera and lens attached to it. The advantages of laparoscopic surgery over the traditional open incision surgery are less damage to the surrounding tissues, minimal postoperative pain and bleeding, a short hospital stay, faster recovery, and fewer complications.

Dr.Vass was the first Urologist in Australia to undergo specialized training in Laparoscopic surgery and has mentord and taught many surgeons accross the country.

Advances in the field of medicine and technology enabled the physicians to perform laparoscopic surgeries to treat a wide range of urological conditions with better outcomes and minimal adverse events. Some of the commonly performed laparoscopic urology conditions include:

Laparoscopic simple or radical nephrectomy:  A simple nephrectomy is the removal of one kidney whereas a radical nephrectomy involves the removal of one kidney together with the neighbouring adrenal gland and lymph nodes. Laparoscopic nephrectomy is indicated in patients with kidney cancer, severe injury to the kidney, symptomatic hydronephrosis, chronic infection, polycystic kidney disease, shrunken kidney, hypertension or renal calculus.
 

Laparoscopic donor nephrectomy: It is the surgical removal of kidney and upper ureter for donation. This procedure is performed for the purpose of kidney donation and is then transplanted into a recipient. Dr. Vass is one of only a few surgeons in the country with the skills and accreditation to perform this surgery.

Laparoscopic nephroureterectomy:  It is a surgical procedure in which the surgeon removes the kidney and the ureter, the tube that carries urine from the kidney to the bladder.  Laparoscopic nephroureterectomy is used to treat patients who have transitional cell carcinoma of the ureter or kidney.

Laparoscopic partial nephrectomy: It is a surgery to remove a diseased or damaged part of kidney. This procedure is becoming increasingly popular as we are now finding kidney cances at an earlier stage and smaller. It is also can be a difficult procedure as it requires a high degree of laparoscopic skills including suturing that most be completed within a set amount of time to prevent long term damage to the kidney. Dr. Vass has one of the largest seried of laparoscopic partial nephrectomies in Australia and has leturd on this operation on numerous occassions.

Laparoscopic partial nephrectomy is performed in patients with a solid renal mass in a solitary kidney or compromised contralateral kidney, bilateral renal tumours, and in patients with a normal contralateral kidney with small localised renal tumours.

Laparoscopic Pyeloplasty: It is a surgical procedure which relieves the obstruction between the ureter and the kidney at the ureteropelvic junction. Again it requires advanced laparoscopic sutering skills. Dr. Vass has the largest series of this procedure in Australia and his results are comparavle to world's best outcomes. He performs the laparoscopic pyeloplasty 'retro-peritoneally' which means there is less chance of any injury to the bowel are the formation od adhesions as the aboomen is not entered. 

Laparoscopic pyeloplasty is indicated in patients with obstruction of ureteropelvic junction, junction where the ureter attaches to the kidney. Ureteropelvic junction (UPJ) obstruction can be caused by congenital anomaly (condition present at birth) such as horse shoe kidney, scarring from a past surgery, or a blood vessel which may cause UPJ to kink or a stone that gets impacted in the upper part of ureter. This may result in kidney tissue damage causing pain, kidney stones, infection, high blood pressure, impairment of kidney function, and kidney failure.

Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy: It is a surgical procedure to remove all of the prostate gland and some of the tissue around it. This procedure is effective in treating prostate cancer that has not spread beyond the prostate gland. This is called localised prostate cancer. Dr. Vass pioneered this procedure in Australia and has taught many surgeons this technique. This procedure is not common in Australia as it requires advanced laparoscpic skills. The same 'dissection' is used in the 'Robotic Assisted Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy'. 

Laparoscopic Radical Cystectomy: It is a surgical procedure that is used to remove the bladder. Laparoscopic radical cystectomy is the treatment of choice for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer.