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A surgeon has completed a pioneering operation through a navel for the first time in London.
Paraskevas Paraskeva, of Imperial College, was one of the first surgeons to remove gall bladders and appendices through the belly button. Now he has successfully removed a patient's colon at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington.
The technique - single-incision laparoscopic surgery - meant the 44-year-old woman had no scars. Normally patients are left with a six-inch scar after abdominal surgery.
Reader views (2)
Cosmetically, it's a break through certainly, and even technologically in terms of single incision laparoscopic surgeries, although it cannot allow for manipulation of tissues/internal organs in a 3D view logically if the view is only from the same point as the instrument's business end (unless there's more than one intrument operating through the same incision - although this would cause crowding and stretching of the incision, defeating the object in the first place).
I'd be interested in hearing more detail about this, but until then I'll manage to hold my enthusiastic applause in check.
- Rogan, Irving
This sounds like an incredible achievement. I´m surprised it has not generated more interest amongst readers of this website.
- Graham Rodhouse, Helmond, Netherlands
