Lahore (Press Release): Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre Oncology Department Head Dr Shahid Khattak has laid stress on adopting latest methods.
“A surgeon is required to be updated about new technologies and researches relating to his specialized field, ” he said while talking to a group of health reporters on Saturday.
“The recent trends are toward site specialization which means that you operate on few organs or operate for few disorders. In recent decades, use of laparoscopy has revolutionized surgery. It is indeed the most significant development in surgery.”
He continued: “It is a procedure to look insidestomach (abdomen) or chest cavity and aLaparoscope is like a thin telescope with a light source. It is used to light up and magnify the structures inside the abdomen/chest through a small cut (incision) in the skin which enable surgeonsto see the diseased body part in a better way on screens through high definition camera. It was not possible a few decades back.”
Dr Khattak added: “The second most important benefit of Laparoscopy is small incisions (surgical cuts). Unlike open surgery procedure, a patient with smaller incisions recovers more quickly and can be discharged home earlier. In thestart, Laparoscopy was only used for non-cancerous surgeries, but now it has become an integral part of cancer surgery procedures.”
He also talked about facilities of surgeries at SKMCH&RC, saying: “At our Hospital, Laparoscopy is being used for more than 15 years. Ninty-five percent of esophageal and intestinal operation are done through laparoscopy, which indirectly helps us in providing treatment to maximum possible number of people. The soonera patientrecovers; he or she is discharged leaving the space for other patients. This is very important as shortage of beds always remainsa very serious concern at hospitals.
“Laparoscopy is mostly used in operations of lungs, esophageal or intestinal cancer. Although this technology is available in many other hospitals in Pakistan, but at SKMCH&RC, on virtue of being a specialized cancer hospital, use of this technology is much higher.
“Although it is not the right time to compare the long term success ratio of Laparoscopy with open surgery,, but the short term results helps us foreseeing excellent long term results. New technologies in this regard will help us providing better treatment to the poor cancer patient.”