Jan 5, 2009 7:05 pm US/Eastern
New Gallbladder Surgery Leaves Fewer Scars
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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Noriko Goetz just had her gallbladder removed, with a single incision right through her belly button.
When you go under the knife, the fewer amount of cuts, the better. Now, doctors at University of Miami's school of medicine are performing a gallbladder removal surgery with just one incision in the belly button.
Noriko Goetz proudly showed off her belly button, saying, "This is nothing for me." Goetz just had her gallbladder removed, with a single incision right through her belly button.
"I didn't want to have any more scars," she explained. Goetz has abnormal growth of scar tissue. She even has bad scarring for an insect bite, so finding this surgery was like a dream come true for her. "It was really easy. I mean, it was just amazing!"
The man who performed that amazing procedure is Dr. Alberto Iglesias, at the UM Miller School of Medicine, one of five or six universities in the country doing the work. Doctors can do the surgery with a camera at the end of the new instrument. After an hour and a half, the pear-shaped, fist-sized organ comes out right through the two-inch incision.
The pros add up quickly: less chance of infection, a quicker recovery, less pain, and it makes the surgery an outpatient procedure. Some patients were able to go back to work just two days after the surgery.
"It used to be you get your gallbladder removed, you're in for three days," described Dr. Iglesias. "Now you go home the same day."
As for Goetz, the quicker recovery and having pretty much no scar at all means the state of the art procedure is to her a work of art. "He said he cut two inches and I said, 'Really? 'Cause I can't see it.'"
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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