Surgeons at Cairns Hospital are excelling at a state-of-the-art procedure to remove gallstones from patients.
Keyhole flexible scope aka ‘SpyGlass’ surgery is a minimally invasive procedure that uses a thin, flexible scope with a camera to allow surgeons to see inside the body’s bile ducts and pancreatic ducts, in order to target and remove gallstones.
Gallstones are hardened pebble-like deposits of bile that form in the gallbladder. They cause pain, nausea and other problems if not removed.
Cairns Hospital surgeon Christian Beardsley said he and his colleagues within the Upper Gastrointestinal and Liver Surgery Unit treated a higher-than-average number of patients for gallstones.
Mr Beardsley said they had been using the keyhole surgery to remove gallstones, as it was less invasive for patients, which means a significantly lower risk of complications.
‘The incidence of gallstone disease is considerably higher in First Nations populations, with First Nations patients more likely to require surgical intervention,’ Mr Beardsley said.
‘At Cairns Hospital, we do on average four gallstone removal operations per day.
Instead of patients needing two procedures to remove the gallstone and at least a four-day stay in hospital, most patients can go home the next day after the keyhole procedure.
‘Surgeons Omar Mouline and Esh Jeyarajan advocated heavily for the use of the new technology which allows one-stop surgery and helps avoid issues with recurrent pain from stuck stones.’
He said the procedure also used less resources, as it could be used by a single physician - unlike standard procedures that require two physicians, an endoscope and X-rays.
‘While we might be very good at removing gallstones, there are some things that people can do to prevent them,’ he said.
‘Choosing a healthy diet may prevent gallstones from forming, and it may also help you avoid discomfort if they develop.
‘Choose a diet that is low in fat and cholesterol, and high in fibre, as this is most likely to reduce your chance of gallstones.
‘Some studies have shown that eating a lot of fruit and vegetables, and drinking coffee or tea, can also lower your risk.’
What are gallstones?
Gallstones (biliary calculi) are small stones made from cholesterol, bile pigment and calcium salts, usually as a mixture that forms in the gall bladder.
The gall bladder is a small sac that holds bile, a digestive juice produced by the liver that is used in the breakdown of dietary fats. The gall bladder extracts water from its store of bile until the liquid becomes highly concentrated. The presence of fatty foods triggers the gall bladder to squeeze its bile concentrate into the small intestine.
Gallstones are a common disorder of the digestive system and affect around 15 per cent of people aged 50 years and over. Some things which may lead to the formation of gallstones include the crystallisation of excess cholesterol in bile and the failure of the gall bladder to fully empty.
In most cases, gallstones don't cause any problems. However prompt treatment may be necessary if stones block ducts and cause complications such as infections or inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis).