Sunday, July 3, 2011

Surgery

  • Laparoscopy (lap-uh-ROSS-kuh-pee)—done if the cyst is small and looks benign (noncancerous) on the ultrasound. While you are under general anesthesia, a very small cut is made above or below your navel. A small instrument that acts like a telescope is put into your abdomen. Then your doctor can remove the cyst.
  • Laparotomy (lap-uh-ROT-uh-mee)—done if the cyst is large and may be cancerous. While you are under general anesthesia, larger incisions are made in the stomach to remove the cyst. The cyst is then tested for cancer. If it is cancerous, the doctor may need to take out the ovary and other tissues, like the uterus. If only one ovary is taken out, your body is still fertile and can still produce estrogen.
  • taken from http://www.womenshealth.gov/faq/ovarian-cysts.cfm

1 comment:

  1. I had the laparotomy-now that was intense. I am sure you'll only have the laparoscopy, which is less invasive, and you won't need the 4-6 weeks recovery time like I did. In fact, my colleague had a laporascopy last month for a ruptured appendix, and he was back at school within a few days. It may be a good thing so that the doctors can get a better look and see what's going on inside.

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