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New York Weill Cornell Center of New York Presbyterian Hospital has become the first medical institution in the New York metropolitan area to provide hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery to patients afflicted with urologic disease of the kidney, ureter, and bladder.

Developed by R. Ernest Sosa, M.D., of the Department of Urology, hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery combines the advantages of open surgery with the minimal invasiveness and rapid recovery of laparoscopy.

This technique is ideally suited to remove malignant tumors of the kidney and to repair renal, ureteral, and bladder abnormalities. "Perhaps the most important application of hand-assisted laparoscopy is for minimally invasive kidney donation," explains Dr. Ernest Sosa. "A kidney donor avoids a large incision and gains an early discharge and quick recovery. The kidney recipient obtains a kidney that has suffered a minimal period of lack of blood flow."

When compared to straight laparoscopy, the advantages of the hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery include a shorter operating time, same recovery period, ability to perform more complex procedures, and a much shorter period of blood supply cut-off for kidney donors. When compared to open surgery, there is a shorter recovery period (17 days vs. 60 days), shorter hospital stay, and less post-operative narcotic requirement than open surgery. The cosmetic results of a smaller incision are also superior to those of open surgery.