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New Options in Natural Orifice Extraction Procedures

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robotic surgery

Surgeons with Lehigh Valley Institute for Surgical Excellence recently became the first in the region to offer two procedures combining robot-assisted surgery with natural orifice extraction. Removal of a specimen or live donor organ via a natural orifice eliminates the need for a larger abdominal incision.

The advantages of this approach include:

  • Decreased pain and rapid recovery
  • Reduced risk for incisional hernia
  • Minimal abdominal scarring

George Rofaiel, MD, Chief of Transplant Surgery for Lehigh Valley Institute for Surgical Excellence, offers robot-assisted donor nephrectomy with transvaginal kidney extraction for donors who meet specific criteria. At the Institute for Surgical Excellence, 100 percent of live donor nephrectomies are done using robotics, and donors are routinely evaluated for potential transvaginal extraction.

“This procedure is performed collaboratively with the gynecology team to achieve the best possible functional and cosmetic result for our patients,” Dr. Rofaiel says.

Bogdan Protyniak, MD, a colorectal surgeon with Lehigh Valley Institute for Surgical Excellence, offers robot-assisted colon resection with natural orifice specimen extraction (NOSE) in select cases. His first NOSE procedure with the Institute for Surgical Excellence, performed in 2023, was a robotic sigmoidectomy with transvaginal specimen extraction in a woman with sigmoid diverticulitis.

“This is one of many minimally invasive options for colorectal surgery at Lehigh Valley Health Network,” Dr. Protyniak says. “Our patients get the most advanced care with minimal disruption to their lives.

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