By Brenda Harkness
Monash University surgeons are training local and overseas medical practitioners in advanced surgery techniques for gynaecological operations.
Under the Monash Preceptorship Program, gynaecological surgeons and theatre nurses learn advanced endoscopic and laparoscopic surgery techniques, commonly known as keyhole surgery, for common procedures such as hysterectomies, as well as for treating endometriosis and incontinence.
This year the techniques have been further enhanced and extended to apply to procedures for the removal and treatment of ovarian and cervical cancers.
With these advanced techniques, women experience less post-operative pain, have reduced risk of post-surgical complications such as infection, and have less scarring than under traditional 'open' surgical methods, says the chairman of Monash's Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Professor David Healy.
The teaching program is an initiative of Monash's Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and the Women's Health Program, Monash Medical Centre, Moorabbin. It is taught by members of the Monash Endoscopy Unit which includes Monash senior lecturers and surgeons Dr Tony Lawrence and Dr Jim Tsaltas.
In terms of the cosmetic advantages, Professor Healy says the procedures leave only very small scars, each about a centimetre in size, on either side of the bikini-line. With the traditional open surgery methods, some scars could have been about 10 or more centimetres along the bikini line.
While endoscopy and laparoscopy techniques had been used for some time for other surgical procedures such as knee reconstructions, until recently they were mostly used only for diagnostic purposes on obstetrics and gynaecological patients.
The Monash Endoscopy Unit conducts one-on-one training with surgeons, as well as with theatre nurses, to give them maximum practical operating experience with real patients in the gynaecological endoscopic and laparoscopic surgery methods.
According to Professor Healy, most gynae-cological surgeons, especially those who graduated before the 1970s, had no training or experience with the new techniques. Currently, he says, the only way for surgeons to update their surgical skills is by voluntary participation in continuing education programs such as the Monash Preceptorship Program.
Monash started the teaching workshops in 1991. The program has since evolved and expanded to teach surgeons both locally and overseas.