Tamara Noel Fitzgerald

Primary Theme: Global Health

For much of the 20th century, surgeons advanced the techniques of traditional open surgery. In the 1980s, the field of surgery advanced further with the development of laparoscopy. This technology allowed surgeons to make two to four small incisions and operate with an intra-abdominal camera and instruments. Benefits of laparoscopic surgery compared to open surgery include decreases in pain, recovery time, intra-abdominal scar tissue, wound infections, abdominal scar size, wound breakdown and length of hospital stay. It is routinely performed in high-income countries. However, laparoscopic surgery is expensive and demands a great amount of infrastructure to maintain the equipment. These costs are prohibitive to low- and middle-income countries, and therefore most surgeries in these countries are performed with the traditional, open approach.