Keyhole Surgery (Laparoscopy)
Services > Keyhole Surgery (Laparoscopy)
What is Laparoscopy?
Laparoscopy, also known as “keyhole surgery” is the gold standard for many procedures in human surgery. This minimally invasive form of surgery is becoming increasingly popular within the world of veterinary medicine.
Laparoscopic surgery is performed using specialist instrumentation, which requires a high level of skill and accuracy. The surgical incisions are far smaller than those of more conventional methods of surgery. These incisions range between 0.5cm and 1.5cm in length and there are usually no more than three necessary for the procedure.
What are the benefits?
- Reduced surgical trauma resulting in smaller scars
- Reduced levels of pain and discomfort
- In the majority of cases, there is no need to wear an Elizabethan collar as the wound sizes are very small and usually no stitches are applied
- Increased post-operative activity – pets recover more quickly and resume normal behaviour faster
What do we use it for?
We offer laparoscopy for both surgical and diagnostic purposes, including the following procedures:
- Laparoscopic Bitch Spay
- Removal of Retained Testicles from the Abdomen
- Removal of Foreign Bodies from the Stomach or Intestines
- Bladder Stone Removal
- Exploratory Laparascopy and Biopsy of Internal Organs
Benfleet Veterinary Surgery is pleased to offer the laparoscopic bitch spay technique and has been performing this surgery since beginning of 2009. This surgery involves the removal of the ovaries leaving the uterus (the womb) in place, which, compared to the conventional spay technique that involves the removal of the ovaries and uterus together. There are also no medical advantages to removing the healthy uterus.
Cryptorchidism, sometimes called retained or undescended testes, is the absence of one or both testicles in the scrotum of a male puppy. Dogs with retained testicles have a greatly increased risk of developing testicular infection, torsion and cancer. This procedure can be offered for dogs that have either one or both testicles retained abdominally. This technique usually only requires 2 to 3 key hole incisions and results in significantly less surgical trauma along with less pain and discomfort.
If your cat or dog has swallowed an indigestible item, an emergency surgery may be required for their removal. Traditional methods are very invasive and contribute to significant trauma and pain to the animal patients and eventually resulting in prolonged convalescence. Laparoscopy assisted surgical methods may enable the surgeon locate the foreign bodies in the intestine and remove them with minimal pain and trauma to the patients.
If your dog passes blood in the urine or straining to urinate, presence of bladder stones can be one of the possibilities. If this is confirmed, surgical removal of bladder stones is often the quickest way of treating bladder stones. With this procedure, the stones from the bladder can be removed through smaller holes made on the abdominal wall and therefore the trauma and pain to your pets are reduced significantly compared to the traditional operations which require much larger incisions.
In some illnesses, the diagnosis may require direct viewing and biopsy of the internal organs in the abdominal cavity or the chest cavity. This method allows the veterinarian to have magnified visualization of the internal organs without making any large incisions.
If you would like more information or to find out if keyhole surgery could be a suitable option for your pet, speak to us today and we’ll be happy to help.
