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Laparoscopic Colectomy

ID: ANH18221
MEDICAL ANIMATION TRANSCRIPT: A laparoscopic colectomy is a surgical procedure to remove some or all of your large intestine. Your large intestine is the final part of a sequence of hollow organs called the digestive tract. Part of your large intestine, called the colon, absorbs water from undigested food to make waste called stool or feces which passes out of your body at your anus. A colectomy is usually done to treat diseases that inflame your colon such as Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis or diverticulitis, a blockage called bowel obstruction, colon cancer, or a damaged or injured colon. To begin a laparoscopic colectomy, your surgeon will make a small incision near your belly button and insert a tube called a port. Gas will be pumped through the port to inflate your abdomen, this gives your surgeon more room to work. Depending on the type of colectomy, one or more additional incisions may be made. Then a camera and surgical instruments will be inserted through these incisions. After finding the damaged part of your colon, your surgeon will free it from its attachments inside your abdomen. Next, the damaged part of your colon will be removed through one of the incisions. In most cases, the remaining healthy ends of the colon will be joined together with stitches or staples. But sometimes a colostomy procedure may be done at this point to allow time for part of the colon to heal. In this procedure, your surgeon will close one end with sutures or staples. The other end will be attached to the outside of your abdomen creating an opening called a stoma. A colostomy bag will be placed over the stoma to collect feces from your colon. In most cases, a colostomy is temporary. In a later procedure, the ends of the large intestine will be reconnected. If you have any questions about laparoscopic colectomy, talk to your healthcare provider.

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