Home Health Health Briefs PBMC surgeon uses new technique for minimally invasive hernia repair

PBMC surgeon uses new technique for minimally invasive hernia repair

PBMC surgeon Dr. Agostino Cervone, who performed an umbilical hernia repair using a new technique and advanced instruments. Courtesy photo

Peconic Bay Medical Center recently made nationwide news when its director of general robotic surgery performed the first umbilical hernia repair in the United States using a new, minimally invasive laparoscopic instrument.

The new instrument requires only microscopic incisions. Other hernia repairs require the surgeon to make several holes for laparoscopic equipment or even a large incision in the abdomen.

Surgeon Agostino Cervone, MD performed the surgery on patient Janet Bartra using the Percuvance System. Its name derives from a combination of the words percutaneous (meaning through the skin) and advance.

Normally a sharp pointed instrument called a trocar punctures the abdomen to serve as a portal for laparoscopic equipment, but Cervone was able to perform the surgery without using a trocar, leaving the patient with less trauma and an almost unnoticeable scar at the incision point.

With an incision only about the size of a pencil tip, benefits to the patient include a much quicker recovery with less pain.

“I’m only a week post-op and feel great,” Bartra said. “I even exercised two days after being discharged and don’t have any pain.”

The Percuvance System, created by Teleflex Incorporated, allows the surgeon to use an interchangeable tip on shaft less than 3 millimeters in diameter, but the doctor still has the ability to grasp, cut or retract tissue as if they were using a traditional laparoscopic instrument.

Though the Percuvance technique is the next level of minimally invasive surgery, it involves no additional training for the surgeon. Cervone was able to use Percuvance just as he has with the thousands of others surgeries he’s performed.

“Using Percuvance allowed me to operate with no additional training yet provided less trauma and a faster recovery time for my patient.” Cervone stated. “I would use Percuvance again as it was a smooth transition for me and the patient benefitted from the procedure as well” he explained.

Source: Press release issued by Peconic Bay Medical Center dated August 22, 2016.