Gynaecological laparoscopic surgery has undergone rapid development in the past two decades, thanks to the technological advances of the late 20th century and the beginning of the new millennium combined with the work of pioneering surgeons. Today laparoscopy is fully integrated into pelvic surgery and an essential part of the gynaecological surgeon’s toolkit.
In Cuba, the National Minimal Access Surgery Centre is the country’s flagship institution, with over twenty years’ experience and a group of prominent specialists in the fields of obstetrics and gynaecology, oncology and general surgery, with doctorates and masters degrees. This team of research and teaching staff are dedicated to developing laparoscopic treatments for pathologies of the female reproductive organs. Their work covers a broad spectrum of techniques used in the surgical treatment of a range of malignant and benign conditions from gynaecological cancers and pelvic floor conditions, to endometriosis and infertility. The team performs more than three hundred surgeries per year.
These procedures involve less blood loss, fewer complications around the wound and shorter hospital stays, plus the aesthetic appeal of r educed scarring.
An attached training centre also provides basic and advanced postgraduate courses in gynaecological laparoscopic surgery for Ob/Gyn and General Surgery residents, as well as a Minimal Access Surgery masters course. The premise is that agility and dexterity are required for the new instruments, the challenges presented by a surgical space magnified in high definition imagery by advanced optical equipment, the advances in electrosurgery and nominal tactile feedback.
Laparoscopy is a learned technique that requires a unique skillset that is not necessarily transferable to a surgeon whose expertise is in non-keyhole surgery techniques. The student is en couraged to develop an interest in research, so as to continue to generate new knowledge for the future of this surgical practice, as well as to learn about its social and ethical implications.
Laparoscopy is a dream come true, and the specialists who are taking this dream further into the future have honed and strengthened their skills at leading global institutions and highly regarded centres in the USA, Spain, Mexico and Germany.
Today the team are working on radical minimally invasive techniques to treat malignant conditions of the cervix and the uterus which include surgery that conserves organs and preserves fertility.
The the surgical team’s work also owes its success to joint efforts with the highly skilled and experienced Anaesthesiology and Resuscitation team and the equally skilled Intensive Therapy team. These are essential to the patient’s recovery and the reduction of surgery-related morbidity.
National Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery Calle Párraga e/ San Mariano y Vista Alegre, Víbora, 10 de Octubre, La Habana, Cuba. Emails: minimoacceso@cce.sld.cu, docencia@cce.sld.cu Telf.: (+53) 7649 5332