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More than 11 million American women dread coughing, sneezing, or even laughing because these normal physical reactions cause an embarrassing loss of bladder control.
These women suffer from stress urinary incontinence (SUI), a condition caused by a excessive movement of the bladder neck or weakened muscle. Stress incontinence affects women of all ages including young mothers, pre-menopausal women, and seniors.
Thanks to a unique procedure - transobturator tape placement or TOT - women can now obtain quick and nearly painless relief from SUI at Melrose-Wakefield Hospital. Svetislav Lazich, MD, board-certified in OB/GYN, has performed 40 TOT procedures there in the past year with a 95-98 percent success rate.
During the procedure, the surgeon places synthetic (prolene) mesh tape under the urethra to form a "hammock" that supports the urethra during times of stress. TOT requires three tiny incisions: one in the vagina and two in the thigh fold.
TOT may be done under general, epidural, or local anesthesia on an outpatient basis. Most procedures take 20-to-30 minutes and require only two-to-three days of
recovery before light activities may be resumed and about two weeks for normal activities.
According to Dr. Lazich, TOT is often a preferred treatment method for stress incontinence because there is no risk of bowel injury as there is with other procedures that require an incision in the pubic area. Most women prefer TOT to more "old-fashioned" invasive treatment options.
Women who are candidates for TOT have completed childbearing and have not achieved success with more conservative treatment approaches such as weight loss, pelvic floor muscle exercises (kegels), electrical stimulation, and/or biofeedback.
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Minimally invasive surgery refers to a variety of procedures that use specially designed
microsurgical instruments inserted into a patient's body through tiny incisions.
During these procedures, surgeons watch the progress of the work through miniature
camera systems on very narrow, flexible scopes.
Every year, more and more surgical procedures are performed in a minimally invasive manner - with smaller incisions, reduced pain, shorter hospital stays, and a speedy return to normal life. Minimally invasive surgery is revolutionizing all areas of surgery from neurosurgery to cardiothoracic procedures.
Nearly all patients having minimally invasive surgery are able to go home the same day and return to work within seven to 10 days. In the past, patients needing gall bladder or knee surgery, faced a four-to-seven-day stay in the hospital and months to recuperate.
Lawrence Memorial Hospital and Melrose-Wakefield Hospital have been on the leading edge in minimally invasive surgery. Some specialty areas include:
- Arthroscopic repair of shoulder, knee, and ankle joints
- Endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm
- Laparoscopic banding for obesity
- Laparoscopic removal of bowel tumors
- Laparoscopic removal of the gall bladder
- Laparoscopic repair of gastric reflux
- Laparoscopic repair of hernias
- Minimally invasive hip surgery
- Minimally invasive spine surgery
- Sinus endoscopy
Arthroscopy is a surgical technique that uses tiny incisions and a fiber-optic camera to treat the painful joint. It is replacing many of the older surgical procedures states especially for the shoulder and knee. The result is that incisions are smaller, pain is reduced and recovery is quicker. These techniques were originally available only to a few high performance athletes. They are now becoming accessible to the public at large.
Laparoscopic treatments also have proven successful for gastric reflux disease-heartburn caused by the upward flow of acid juices from the stomach. Working through five small incisions in the patient's abdomen, the largest of which is the diameter of a dime, he repairs damage to the diaphragm.
For women thinking about tubal ligation, minimally invasive procedures are a new, leading- edge alternative. In a procedure that usually takes less than 20 minutes, soft flexible micro-inserts are placed in the fallopian tubes hysteroscopically.
The process is nearly pain-free with a quick recovery time. The procedure has proven close to 100 percent effective."
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