Despite all the positive advances in the field of medicine, cancer remains on the agenda as a major unsolved health problem and there are many known types. Stomach and large intestine cancers are among the leading cancer types in terms of mortality rate. Today, the backbone of the treatment of these diseases is "surgical treatments". Except for some late cases, the first and basic step in the fight against some types of cancer is through the operating room. In some patients, surgery is performed after the tumor is reduced with medication and radiation treatments.
With the advanced technologies of our age, many surgeries are now performed with laparoscopic surgery (closed method). Although this method, which was first used in gallbladder surgeries, was initially avoided in cancer surgeries, the results obtained especially in colon and rectum cancers have led to laparoscopy becoming increasingly widespread. For example, laparoscopic surgeries are now routinely performed in stomach cancer surgery, and if the conditions are suitable, laparoscopic method can be applied even in liver and pancreatic cancers.
General Surgery Specialist Prof. Dr. Nurkan Törer gave detailed information about this method applied in cancer surgeries.
One of the issues that patients are most curious about is whether cancerous tissues can be cleaned better by touching and seeing directly with the open surgery method. Stating that he came, Prof. Dr. Nurkan Törer said, “In the principles of cancer surgery, one of the most important rules is to operate without touching the tumor as much as possible. Laparoscopic surgery is performed in accordance with this principle. From this perspective, it is not inferior to open surgery. "In addition, it is advantageous that the tissues can be enlarged much more than normal with the help of a camera and viewed with HD (high resolution) screenshots," he says. "It increases significantly and provides important properties in terms of pain and wound healing." In addition, the recovery time of patients using this method is shorter. It contributes significantly to achieving the final goal as it will positively affect the time it takes to start chemotherapy planned by the oncologist after surgery.
If necessary, open surgery can be converted
Prof. stated that not every patient can be guaranteed that their surgery will be performed using a closed method. Dr. Nurkan Törer said, “There are some essentials, especially in the treatment of a very serious disease such as cancer. The most important of these are the removal of diseased tissues within effective, wide and safe boundaries (sometimes even sacrificing healthy ones) and the establishment of a safe and healthy structure to replace the missing organs. "These two issues can never be compromised," he says, and says that if the physician has even the slightest doubt about providing these two conditions with the laparoscopic method, the open surgery option will come into play.
It may not be applicable to every patient
Underlining that all stomach and colon cancer surgeries can be performed with a closed method if there is no obstacle to surgery in terms of anesthesia or surgical technique. Dr. Nurkan Törer says, "However, in general, laparoscopic surgeries may not be appropriate for patients with severe heart failure or COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)." He says that in such cases, the decision is made by taking the opinion of the anesthesiologist. Apart from these, Prof. explains that laparoscopic surgery may be insufficient when removing tumors that have grown too much or have penetrated into the vessels. Dr. Nurkan Törer says, "This situation can sometimes be predicted with preoperative examinations," and adds that sometimes the surgery may begin with a closed surgery and continue with an open surgery after deciding that laparoscopy is not suitable during the surgery.
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