Laparoscopy: Surgery without an opening

Jun 05, 2017

MEDICAL GUIDE, advertiser supplement

By Lillian N. Magezi

For some time, Sarah Gimono experienced severe pain in the abdomen, as well as nausea.

Gimono says the pain would start in the stomach, before then it would extend to the chest and towards the back. When the pain became severe, she went to a hospital towards the end of 2016.

At the hospital, she underwent an endoscopy (a procedure that is used to examine a person's digestive tract using an instrument called an endoscope.

It is a fl exible tube with a light and camera attached to it, which is inserted into one's body through the mouth or the anus. It is connected to a colour TV monitor on which a doctor views images of one's digestive tract).

After the procedure, she was told that she was suffering from severe infl ammation of the stomach, which is a sign of ulcers. She was given medication for the ulcers, but her condition worsened.

She had severe nausea and would vomit every time she ate or drank something. She also had severe pain in the upper part of the abdomen and she says it felt like someone was squeezing her stomach.

The pain would increase after eating. She would feel some relief if she had an empty stomach, for example if she had not eaten or after vomiting.

She started losing weight and in a space of two months, her weight fell from 60kg to 48kg. At the beginning of 2017, she went to Kampala Independent Hospital for consultation.

She was referred to Dr Deo Lukyamuzi Kizito, a general surgeon and gastroenterologist (specialist in conditions that affect the digestive tract and biliary system).

Kizito, who is also the head surgeon at Abii Clinic, recommended an endoscopy, which showed that Gimono suffered from hiatal hernia.

Kizito says the condition involves the upper portion of the stomach protruding into the chest cavity through an opening of the diaphragm.

It is caused by the weakening of the diaphragm muscle. Gimono says the doctor told her the condition had no defi nite cause, as sometimes a person is born with it or it could be brought on by pregnancy.

Kizito told Gimono that she needed to undergo an operation to fi x the condition. During her consultation, Kizito told her about a surgical procedure known as laparoscopy or keyhole surgery, which involves operating on someone without cutting them open.

Since she had never heard about it, Gimono researched about it as she put together money for the procedure. CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON THIS STORY

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