The colon, also known as the large intestine, serves animportant purpose in your digestive system. It is a long, hollow tube at theend of the digestive tract where the body makes and stores stool. Simply put,the proper functioning of the colon is essential for healthy bowel movements toremove waste from the body.
However, like all things on Earth, the colon is notindestructible. Its ability to function can be compromised by a number offactors, giving way to various colon diseases. Whichever intestinal disorder itis, the colon's function is always severely compromised, often resulting insymptoms like bleeding, ulcers, diarrheoa or fever, amongst many others.
Treatment Options
Most colon disease cases are treated with medication;however, many patients are eventually required to undergo surgery, either torelieve symptoms that do not respond to medical therapy, or to correctcomplications in the intestine.
Open Surgery
Open surgery is essentially surgery as most of usenvision it – bodies cut open, surgeons poking around your insides, and all inall, extremely frightening. Nonetheless, this traditional surgical techniquehas proven to work so well, it is still in use today and is the standardprocedure for treating colon diseases.
Generally, open surgery is performed on colon diseasepatients when they need a colon resection. An incision of up to twelve inches(sometimes extending from the breast bone to the pubic bone) will be made onthe abdomen, and the diseased part of the colon removed, after which theremaining healthy sections are then sutured back together.
Following surgery, patients are hospitalized from four tosix days to regain normal bowel function and to transition from intravenous tooral pain medication. Once discharged, patients must then adhere to strictactivity levels for at least a full six weeks.
Common indications for a colon resection include coloncancer, gastrointestinal bleeding, inflammatory bowel disease, large bowelobstructions, intestinal polyps, which are benign growths that may becomecancerous if not treated, and diverticular disease, where small pouches or sacsdevelop in the lining of an organ or canal in the body and/or become inflamed.
As a standard procedure, open surgery is usuallypresented to all colon disease patients as one of their more effective options.However, if a patient is obese, has had prior abdominal surgery or has densescar tissue, open surgery becomes his only choice as these conditions may causecomplications when other treatment options are employed.
But what if a patient does not have the above conditions?Is open surgery still his only option, besides medical therapy?
The answer is a resounding no.
Other options
A new surgical technique known as Minimally InvasiveSurgery (MIS) is increasingly being used in patients with colorectalconditions. MIS can be used to treat all abovementioned indications for opensurgery colon resections, except for some cases of colon cancer. Patients withcolon cancer should thus seek their doctors' opinions for the most suitabletreatment option before making a decision.
Often called laparoscopic surgery due to the use oflaparoscopic devices, MIS makes use of specialized techniques, tiny fibre-opticflashlights and high definition monitors and is performed through the skin, abody cavity or anatomical opening, thereby putting the patient through lessoperative trauma than traditional open surgical procedures.
During the MIS procedure, tiny incisions of typically aquarter of an inch to four inches are made in the abdomen. A laparoscope, whichis a slender telescope connected to a video camera, is inserted through one ofthe incisions, giving the surgeon a magnified view of the patient's internalorgans on a monitor. Surgical instruments are inserted through the otherincisions, and the surgeon works on the diseased colon by looking at the viewon the monitor instead of directly at the organs.
Benefits of Minimally Invasive Surgery
If you're worried about the effectiveness of MIS, fretnot, because MIS has proven to achieve the same results an open surgery wouldwith regard to colon resections, but offers many benefits over the traditionalprocedure, such as:
Less pain and scarring
Due to the smaller incisions made, MIS procedures causeless post-operative pain and discomfort. Studies have also shown that MISpatients report less pain and require smaller doses of pain relievers thanpatients undergoing traditional surgeries.
The scarring that comes from undergoing MIS is alsosmaller and less noticeable as a result of smaller cuts. Additionally, thescars that sometimes form as a result of an MIS procedure have a less jaggededge, giving them a more appealing appearance.
Shorter hospital stays
Since there's less pain and discomfort involved in MISprocedures, patients are hospitalized for a shorter time, and are able toreturn to normal activities more quickly.
Less injury to tissue
Because there are no long incisions in MIS, surgeonsoften do not have to make the cut through muscle that is often required intraditional open surgery to complete the procedure – leading to less tissuedamage and quicker recovery.
Higher accuracy rate
MIS procedures use video-assisted equipment giving thesurgeon better visualization and magnification of internal organs andstructure. For patients, this translates into a more accurate and definitiveprocedure.
A Surgeon's Recommended Choice
In spite of the obvious benefits of MIS over opensurgery, there are some colon disease patients who still surprisingly opt forthe relatively more harrowing experience of traditional open surgery.
According to Associate Professor Charles Tsang, Head andSenior Consultant, Division of Colorectal Surgery at the National UniversityHospital (NUH), currently about 60% of colon disease surgical procedures in NUHare performed using MIS. He says, "10% of these procedures are generally deemedunsuitable for MIS because they are advanced colorectal cancer cases. However,it is my belief that the remainder who opt for open surgery are unaware of thebenefits of MIS, perhaps because not all surgeons have had extensive experiencein minimally invasive surgery and hence may not even give their patients thisoption."
More often than not, colon disease patients are eligiblefor MIS and its accompanying benefits. With less pain, scarring and injury totissue, shorter hospital stays, patients can look forward to a quicker fullrecovery from their colonic condition.
As a patient, there is a tendency to let the doctor leadand make the final call. However, as Prof Tsang mentioned above, if you are acolon disease patient, it will do you good to learn about all your options orget a second opinion before making the final decision.
http://www.ezyhealthandbeauty.com/
However, like all things on Earth, the colon is notindestructible. Its ability to function can be compromised by a number offactors, giving way to various colon diseases. Whichever intestinal disorder itis, the colon's function is always severely compromised, often resulting insymptoms like bleeding, ulcers, diarrheoa or fever, amongst many others.
Treatment Options
Most colon disease cases are treated with medication;however, many patients are eventually required to undergo surgery, either torelieve symptoms that do not respond to medical therapy, or to correctcomplications in the intestine.
Open Surgery
Open surgery is essentially surgery as most of usenvision it – bodies cut open, surgeons poking around your insides, and all inall, extremely frightening. Nonetheless, this traditional surgical techniquehas proven to work so well, it is still in use today and is the standardprocedure for treating colon diseases.
Generally, open surgery is performed on colon diseasepatients when they need a colon resection. An incision of up to twelve inches(sometimes extending from the breast bone to the pubic bone) will be made onthe abdomen, and the diseased part of the colon removed, after which theremaining healthy sections are then sutured back together.
Following surgery, patients are hospitalized from four tosix days to regain normal bowel function and to transition from intravenous tooral pain medication. Once discharged, patients must then adhere to strictactivity levels for at least a full six weeks.
Common indications for a colon resection include coloncancer, gastrointestinal bleeding, inflammatory bowel disease, large bowelobstructions, intestinal polyps, which are benign growths that may becomecancerous if not treated, and diverticular disease, where small pouches or sacsdevelop in the lining of an organ or canal in the body and/or become inflamed.
As a standard procedure, open surgery is usuallypresented to all colon disease patients as one of their more effective options.However, if a patient is obese, has had prior abdominal surgery or has densescar tissue, open surgery becomes his only choice as these conditions may causecomplications when other treatment options are employed.
But what if a patient does not have the above conditions?Is open surgery still his only option, besides medical therapy?
The answer is a resounding no.
Other options
A new surgical technique known as Minimally InvasiveSurgery (MIS) is increasingly being used in patients with colorectalconditions. MIS can be used to treat all abovementioned indications for opensurgery colon resections, except for some cases of colon cancer. Patients withcolon cancer should thus seek their doctors' opinions for the most suitabletreatment option before making a decision.
Often called laparoscopic surgery due to the use oflaparoscopic devices, MIS makes use of specialized techniques, tiny fibre-opticflashlights and high definition monitors and is performed through the skin, abody cavity or anatomical opening, thereby putting the patient through lessoperative trauma than traditional open surgical procedures.
During the MIS procedure, tiny incisions of typically aquarter of an inch to four inches are made in the abdomen. A laparoscope, whichis a slender telescope connected to a video camera, is inserted through one ofthe incisions, giving the surgeon a magnified view of the patient's internalorgans on a monitor. Surgical instruments are inserted through the otherincisions, and the surgeon works on the diseased colon by looking at the viewon the monitor instead of directly at the organs.
Benefits of Minimally Invasive Surgery
If you're worried about the effectiveness of MIS, fretnot, because MIS has proven to achieve the same results an open surgery wouldwith regard to colon resections, but offers many benefits over the traditionalprocedure, such as:
Less pain and scarring
Due to the smaller incisions made, MIS procedures causeless post-operative pain and discomfort. Studies have also shown that MISpatients report less pain and require smaller doses of pain relievers thanpatients undergoing traditional surgeries.
The scarring that comes from undergoing MIS is alsosmaller and less noticeable as a result of smaller cuts. Additionally, thescars that sometimes form as a result of an MIS procedure have a less jaggededge, giving them a more appealing appearance.
Shorter hospital stays
Since there's less pain and discomfort involved in MISprocedures, patients are hospitalized for a shorter time, and are able toreturn to normal activities more quickly.
Less injury to tissue
Because there are no long incisions in MIS, surgeonsoften do not have to make the cut through muscle that is often required intraditional open surgery to complete the procedure – leading to less tissuedamage and quicker recovery.
Higher accuracy rate
MIS procedures use video-assisted equipment giving thesurgeon better visualization and magnification of internal organs andstructure. For patients, this translates into a more accurate and definitiveprocedure.
A Surgeon's Recommended Choice
In spite of the obvious benefits of MIS over opensurgery, there are some colon disease patients who still surprisingly opt forthe relatively more harrowing experience of traditional open surgery.
According to Associate Professor Charles Tsang, Head andSenior Consultant, Division of Colorectal Surgery at the National UniversityHospital (NUH), currently about 60% of colon disease surgical procedures in NUHare performed using MIS. He says, "10% of these procedures are generally deemedunsuitable for MIS because they are advanced colorectal cancer cases. However,it is my belief that the remainder who opt for open surgery are unaware of thebenefits of MIS, perhaps because not all surgeons have had extensive experiencein minimally invasive surgery and hence may not even give their patients thisoption."
More often than not, colon disease patients are eligiblefor MIS and its accompanying benefits. With less pain, scarring and injury totissue, shorter hospital stays, patients can look forward to a quicker fullrecovery from their colonic condition.
As a patient, there is a tendency to let the doctor leadand make the final call. However, as Prof Tsang mentioned above, if you are acolon disease patient, it will do you good to learn about all your options orget a second opinion before making the final decision.
http://www.ezyhealthandbeauty.com/
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