Dr. Marchand performed a hysterectomy through an 11mm incision at the bottom of the belly button using a technique called “laparoscopic single-port hysterectomy.” Although laparoscopic hysterectomy has been performed through a single incision before, this is the smallest incision that it has ever been performed through.

The Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic had reported cases through a 15mm incision, which was the previous (unofficial) world record.

The patient, Mary Coble, provided the Academy with pictures of her belly from 4 weeks after the surgery. There was no scar visible whatsoever.

Ms. Coble had suffered from debilitating pelvic pain from endometriosis and adenomyosis for years before being recommended to have the hysterectomy after other conservative treatments for her pain were unsuccessful.

She assumed she would be having the hysterectomy through the same incision that she had her cesarean section went through, which was a lower abdomen horizontal incision, often referred to as the “bikini cut.” She states she was surprised and delighted to find that the procedure was able to be performed through only a tiny incision in her umbilicus.

Dr. Greg Marchand, an Accredited Master Surgeon, developed this technique and led the surgical team that performed the surgery. The procedure was a modified version of a laparoscopic hysterectomy, where the only incision used is in the patient's umbilicus.

“A very novel part of our technique,” said Dr. Marchand, “is that because of the instrumentation we use, the incision is always going to be reproducibility 11mm.”

“The recovery was really easy compared to my prior laparoscopic surgeries,” said Mary Coble following the procedure.

Mary pointed out that she has no scars at all from the surgery, as the only tiny scar present is on the bottom of her belly button, where it is effectively invisible. Mary has previously had both laparoscopic surgery and delivered her baby by cesarean section, so she is no stranger to recovering from surgery.

“I think it's a great advancement for minimally invasive surgery.” said Dr. Marchand, the lead surgeon.

“When the incision shrinks from 15mm to 11mm, there are many benefits to the patient. There will be less postoperative pain, a quicker postoperative recovery, and a much lower chance of the incision causing a hernia later, which is a known complication of this type of surgery. My favorite part is that you can't even see the incision on the patient.”

WORLD RECORDS HALL OF F A M E
MEDICINE
Dr. Greg J. Marchand
Laparoscopic Ovarian Cancer Staging Surgery on the Largest Tumor
and

Description of Technical Procedure Performed:
Successful Single-port Total Laparoscopic Hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy and lysis of adhesions secondary to scar tissue from a prior cesarean section.

The procedure was performed using an Olympus Tri-Port device using a modified technique through a smaller incision. The incision and abdominal entry was performed using an Ethicon 11mm blunt tip trochar in order to be sure the incision was exactly 11mm, and that the procedure was reproducible. A 5mm 30 degree laparoscope was used with wavy graspers, a bovie laparoscopic extender “hook,” and a Covidien Ligasure Blunt Tipped 5mm device.

On The Net:
Dr Greg Marchand's website: www.gregmarchandmd.com
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/marchandobgynpllc

Dr. Greg Marchand has previously received a World Record from Guinness World Records for other surgical accomplishments.

Dr. Greg Marchand: "Unfortunately, Guinness politely declined to recognize this achievement stating it was too specific to create a record for. We discussed the importance of recognizing cutting-edge surgical excellence in the field of cancer surgery with The World Record Academy (which has unlimited categories for new world records), and they agreed to recognize the category after extensively researching the accomplishment."