First 'Single Port' Gallbladder Removal Surgery Performed at Mayo Clinic

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — A 20-year-old bride-to-be from Scottsdale, Ariz., is the first patient to undergo a single port laparoscopic cholecystectomy at Mayo Clinic.

In short, it means that the young woman (who did not have gall stones, but other medical issues) had her gallbladder removed through a single surgical opening. That opening was done through her belly button, resulting in no visible scar, same-day surgery and remarkably brief healing time.

This is in stark contrast to the traditional laparoscopic cholecystectomy that requires four incisions to accommodate various surgical instruments. The surgeon, Kristi Harold, M.D., Director of Mayo Clinic's Minimally Invasive Surgery Center, was able to guide flexible instruments and the camera used in laparoscopic surgery through the single "port," or opening, to provide access to the abdomen, facilitating removal of the gallbladder.

In the typical laparoscopic procedure, the incisions are made in the upper right abdomen, just below the ribs.

Not only does this method provide a cosmetic enhancement for the patient, it results in a shorter recovery period, according to Dr. Harold. Fewer incisions, she explains, are better for patients, not only in terms of minimal discomfort and shorter healing time, but there is the enhanced benefit of a hidden scar.

The patient in this first case required an incision less than one inch and was discharged from the recovery room and able to go home a few hours after the surgery.

Candidates for traditional laparoscopic surgery typically meet the same criteria for the single-port procedure, adds Dr. Harold.

Gallbladder removal is one of the most widely performed operations in the U.S., with more than 50,000 people undergoing the procedure per year.

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Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. As a leading academic medical center in the Southwest, Mayo Clinic focuses on providing specialty and surgical care in more than 65 disciplines at its outpatient facility in north Scottsdale and at Mayo Clinic Hospital. The 244-licensed bed hospital is located at 56th Street and Mayo Boulevard (north of Bell Road) in northeast Phoenix, and provides inpatient care to support the medical and surgical specialties of the clinic, which is located at 134th Street and Shea Boulevard in Scottsdale.

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About Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. Doctors from every medical specialty work together to care for patients, joined by common systems and a philosophy of "the needs of the patient come first." More than 3,300 physicians, scientists and researchers and 46,000 allied health staff work at Mayo Clinic, which has sites in Rochester, Minn., Jacksonville, Fla., and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz. Collectively, the three locations treat more than half a million people each year. To obtain the latest news releases from Mayo Clinic, go to www.mayoclinic.org/news. For information about research and education visit www.mayo.edu. MayoClinic.com is available as a resource for your health stories.