What Is a Laparoscopic Myomectomy? Laparoscopic surgery is usually performed as out-patient surgery under general anesthesia and has absolutely revolutionized gynecologic surgery because of the short hospital stay and quick recovery.
Because of the small size of the incisions and the level of skill needed to correctly perform the surgery, this procedure is actually harder for a physician to perform and takes more skill and training than abdominal surgery. The laparoscope is a slender telescope that is inserted through the navel to view the pelvic and abdominal organs. Two or three small, half-inch incisions are made below the pubic hairline and instruments are passed through these small incisions to perform the surgery. For laparoscopic myomectomy, a small scissors is used to open the thin covering of the uterus. The fibroid is found underneath this covering, grasped, and freed from its attachments to the normal uterine muscle.
After the fibroid is removed from the uterus, it must be brought out of abdominal cavity. The fibroid is cut into small pieces with a special instrument called a morcellator, and the pieces are removed through one of the small incisions.