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Minimally invasive laparascopic surgery has become the standard for colon cancer treatment. In this WisePatient video, oncologist Daniel Labow, MD, of The Mount Sinai Medical Center, describes the advantages of this procedure.
Well surgery has also had some advances in the treatment of colon cancer and colon surgery in general, and majority of operations these days can be done laparoscopically. That involves using small incisions to manipulate the colon and then take it up through a small opening, usually around the belly button, that will decrease, post operative pain and increase the return to normal activities.
That's the standard treatment. Open surgery if there's some more emergency or if it's big, it can also be done is certainly work for many years, but the majority of patients now will go for laparoscopic surgery just because it's easier to recover from and because medically better etc.
It's been proven that in fact the type of surgery does not affect the outcome of the cancer, I think that's important. Some patients feel that the small incisions do you really get a good look around, when in actuality, as long as you have a doctor and a surgeon who's trained to treat the cancer properly, the tools that are used are not what makes the difference, the appropriate operation, the appropriate expertise that allows the right operation to happen.
Did you know that colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in the U.S.? Experts explain how to prevent, diagnose and treat colon cancer, including why everyone needs a colonoscopy starting at age 50.
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