Natural Orifice Procedures

Natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery, or NOTES, is a form of scarless surgery performed through an internal incision behind the uterus or in the stomach wall to access the abdominal cavity. These internal incisions are typically much less painful than traditional abdominal incisions through skin and muscle. Patients benefit from reduced post-operative pain, faster recovery time, and little or no abdominal scarring.

Transvaginal Gall Bladder Removal

In retro-uterine gall bladder removal, also called retro-uterine cholecystectomy, a narrow surgical instrument is passed through a tiny incision behind the uterus, and into the abdominal cavity. Using instruments inserted through channels of the endoscope, the surgeon severs the connections of the patient's gallbladder, cauterizes its blood vessels, and removes the gall bladder through the uterus. A laparoscopic camera, currently inserted through a tiny incision in the belly button to facilitate viewing, will soon be eliminated in all procedures.

Read about the first U.S. retro-uterine gall bladder removal surgery, which was conducted at Columbia in March, 2007. Visit PubMed to read the article in Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.