Laparoscopic Nephrectomy Essay

Do you know the organ that has the most common type of cancer? It’s actually the Kidney! About 9/10 cancerous Kidneys are diagnosed with Renal Cell Cancer (RCC). Surgery is the main treatment for most Kidney cancers but it has evolved over time. The reason I selected this topic is because my grandpa had cancer in one of his Kidneys and unfortunately to cure the cancer he had to remove the kidney. The operation of removing the Kidney has changed immensely over the past ten years, and I wanted to investigate why. With time the surgical procedure of extracting the kidney has changed dramatically.

The history of abolishing the Kidney has taking a major role in the new procedure. Over the years the procedure of extracting the Kidney has changed dramatically. There have been several medical breakthroughs in the 21st century. One incredible advancement was the Laparoscopic Nephrectomy. A Laparoscopic Nephrectomy is a surgical performance including a series of small incisions,

In the past the most common way to remove a Kidney was a technique called an Open Surgery. During an Open Surgery you are put under general anesthesia and the surgeon makes a 6-10 inch incision along the side of your abdomen. “The surgeon may need to remove a lower rib to gain better access to the Kidney (Mayo Clinic Staff).” “Depending on the type of Nephrectomy being performed, the Ureter, Adrenal Gland, and/or the surrounding tissue may also be removed. The surgery may take upto three hours to complete (encyclopedia.com).” An Open Kidney Removal has a lengthy recovery time. It may take a minimum of 6 weeks to partially heal, and those six weeks are painful and tedious. That is why a new procedure was needed to remove large organs. The technique needed to help patients recover faster and more efficient. An Laparoscopic Nephrectomy only takes half the healing time and the process of recovering is far less