Minimally Invasive Cesarean Section

This is a new cesarean section technique which enables reduced surgical time and pain, and also improves the post-delivery recovery. The method is already been used in the United States, Europe, china, India, and now is gaining support in Brazil.

The method was created in Israel by Dr. Michael Stark. The Idea is to cause the least possible trauma to the seven abdominal tissues that need to be cut open before removing the baby. The abdomen is opened using a less aggressive technique:

1. The doctor cuts the skin and the subcutaneous tissue — the fat — in the same way as in conventional surgery.
2. Then he cuts the aponeurosis, a coat that covers the muscles. Here comes the big difference: in the traditional method, it is detached from the muscles up to the navel, causing lesion to nerves and blood vessels. It doesn’t happen in the new technique.
3. Another important change: muscles are separated with the hand instead of cut open.
4. The doctor cuts two layers of peritoneum, a membrane that covers internal organs, but it is not detached from the bladder as in the conventional method.
5. Finally, the doctor opens the womb wall and the baby is removed.
6. Instead of suturing seven layers, only four layers are sutured: womb, aponeurosis, subcutaneous layer and skin. This means less post-surgical pain, lower surgical time, cost reduction, faster recovery and reduced need for pain killers.

The advantages of Minimally Invasive Cesarean Section are 10 minutes reduction in surgical time; reduced tissue lesion, because less cuts are made; less bleeding during surgery; less pain in post-surgical period and reduced need for pain killers.
Prof. Dr. Thomaz Gollop is one of the pioneers of this technique here in Brazil. He has been performing minimally invasive cesarean sections for three years.

Statement of patients that have undergone the new cesarean technique

Ana Lúcia Gianullo, 41 years-old, an advertiser from São Paulo, has lots of experience in cesarean sections: she has undergone the procedure three times. In the two first times she had a slow, complicated recovery, being able to stand up perfectly only after 15 days. After Thomaz’s birth, everything was different. "With the new technique, I almost didn’t feel any pain, and after four days I was already driving my car ", says Ana Lúcia. (Issued in the Magazine SAÚDE! é vital - August 2004 - by Gabriela Cupani)

“I had a minimally invasive cesarean section when I had my second son, Leonardo, two months ago. When I had my first son, I have also undergone a cesarean section, but the traditional method, because this new technique wasn’t used here in Brazil yet.

My post-surgical recovery was much better with the new technique. After the first delivery, when Felipe was born, it took me about a month to fully return to my regular activities.

This second surgery was totally different: within a week I was already driving and playing with my son in the playground. I didn’t feel any pain. It was as if I had undergone a normal labor.

For me, the surgical procedures in the two cesarean sections are virtually the same, because in both methods I received anesthesia and didn’t feel a thing. But, in the second time, in addition to being in the hospital two days less, the fundamental was my recovery: I had bearable pain and didn’t have to take painkillers.

I heard about the less invasive method through my doctor, about two months before surgery. I couldn’t undergo a normal labor due to the child’s position in my womb. Since he’s been our family doctor for so many years, I didn’t hesitate in taking this procedure.

Being through those two experiences, I can say that the new technique is much better, but a good doctor-patient relationship is vital".
Priscilla Ejzenbaun.( Issued in Folha de São Paulo – Cotidiano –9/18/2005)