CAMDEN – Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center and weight loss surgeon Dr. Alex Gandsas have announced the successful completion of a single port sleeve gastrectomy procedure that has resulted in a “scarless” surgery. Lourdes is thought to be the only hospital in New Jersey that has performed the sleeve gastrectomy procedure through the patient’s belly button.
“This is a remarkable step toward significantly improving the cosmetic results for patients,” says Gandsas, who was assisted during the surgery by Dr. Adeshola Fakulujo. “By reducing the operative site to one single incision in the belly button, the scar is practically invisible.”
A laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, which removes 75 percent of the stomach so that it looks like a sleeve, is traditionally performed through six incisions that range from .5 to 1.5 centimeters in diameter. These incisions allow the necessary surgical instruments to be inserted, as well as a special camera to view structures inside the abdomen. But with the single-port surgery, the same equipment is guided through just one incision in the belly button.
Dr. Lee M. Buono has recently been appointed section chief of Neurosurgery at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center. Buono treats patients who suffer from a variety of neurological conditions, including low-back pain, stenosis, and fractures due to injury. He specializes in minimally invasive outpatient spine surgery.