FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Myrna Manners, Kathleen Robinson, Peggy Sung
Phone: (212) 821-0560
E-mail: pes2001@mail.med.cornell.edu
NEW YORK WEILL CORNELL OFFERS
NEW SURGICAL PROCEDURE
The Department of Urology Pioneers Hand-Assisted Laparoscopic Surgery
for Kidney Abnormalities
New York, NY (February 1999) -- New York Weill Cornell Center
of New York Presbyterian Hospital has become the first medical institution
in the New York metropolitan area to provide hand-assisted laparoscopic
surgery to patients afflicted with urologic disease of the kidney, ureter,
and bladder.
Developed by R. Ernest Sosa, M.D., of the Department of Urology, hand-assisted
laparoscopic surgery combines the advantages of open surgery with the minimal
invasiveness and rapid recovery of laparoscopy.
This technique is ideally suited to remove malignant tumors of the kidney
and to repair renal, ureteral, and bladder abnormalities. "Perhaps
the most important application of hand-assisted laparoscopy is for minimally
invasive kidney donation," explains Dr. Ernest Sosa. "A kidney donor
avoids a large incision and gains an early discharge and quick recovery.
The kidney recipient obtains a kidney that has suffered a minimal period
of lack of blood flow.
When compared to straight laparoscopy, the advantages of the hand-assisted
laparoscopic surgery include a shorter operating time, same recovery period,
ability to perform more complex procedures, and a much shorter period of
blood supply cut-off for kidney donors. When compared to open surgery,
there is a shorter recovery period (17 days vs. 60 days), shorter hospital
stay, and less post-operative narcotic requirement than open surgery.
The cosmetic results of a smaller incision are also superior to those of
open surgery.
© 1999 New York Presbyterian
Hospital
Weill Medical College of Cornell
University
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