Surgeons conduct successful removal of gallbladder through vagina

HealthDay (9/18, Reinberg) reports, "French surgeons report removing a gallbladder through a woman’s vagina, joining a handful of surgeons around the world who are trying the novel technique." So far, two similar operations have occurred at Columbia University and the University of California, San Diego, and the procedure was also used to successfully remove an appendix. The latest surgery, reported in the September issue of the Archives of Surgery, involved a team at University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, who "made a small incision in the back of the vagina," and then used "specially designed instruments inserted through [that] opening" to remove the gallbladder of a 30-year-old patient.

MedPage Today (9/18, Bankhead) adds, "The procedure required three hours to perform, and no bleeding or bile leakage occurred during the procedure." Additionally, "The patient had no postoperative pain or scars and could have left the hospital the evening of the surgery, but the team elected to keep her hospitalized overnight for observation." When examined 10 days later, "the patient had resumed all normal activities," and "reported no discharge or bleeding and no discomfort at the perineal access site."