Lovelace Women’s Hospital is the only hospital in New Mexico offering a new micro-laparoscopy technique for gallbladder removal, hysterectomy, tubal ligation and endometriosis cell removal. This new technique is a virtually scarless laparoscopic procedure using micro instruments.
To educate providers about this new micro-laparoscopy technique, Lovelace Women’s Hospital will be hosting a mobile demonstration lab all day on Friday, August 15. Providers will be able to practice how the instrumentation works on cadavers. Lovelace Medical Group surgeon Dr. Eldie Cruz and Dr. James Wurzel with Women’s Specialists of New Mexico will lead presentations followed by a hands-on learning lab.
In micro-laparoscopy the instruments are 2.3mm in diameter, which benefits the patient with minimal scaring and potentially shorter recovery times. Traditional laparoscopic incisions have ranged from 5.6 to 13.2 mm in diameter. The goal was to enhance laparoscopic surgery by decreasing patient trauma, while increasing physician efficiency during surgery.
“Patients who undergo micro-laparoscopy have smaller incisions, which result in less scarring and lower infection rates,” said Dr. Cruz. “Additionally, because of the improved physician efficiencies during the surgery, there is less patient trauma due to smaller incision size, which potentially results in shorter recovery times and less post operative pain.”
Dr. Cruz has performed more than 500 micro-laparoscopy procedures in his career and joined Lovelace Medical Group in late 2013 to bring this new cutting edge technology to our state.
Lovelace Women’s Hospital is a leader in minimally invasive surgical procedures including advanced laparoscopy, robotics and now micro-laparoscopy. Lovelace Women’s Hospital is the first in the state to perform DIEP flap surgeries for women.