First report in Belgium in the field of paediatric surgery : splenectomy by SILS

On the 13th of may 2009 Dr. Erwin Van Der Veken, assisted by Dr Gregory Rodesch and helped by Dr Marc Laureys, performed at Queen Fabiola Universitary Children’s Hospital (QFUCH, Brussels) a first operation in Belgium and probably in Europe.

Coming back from a congress in Phoenix, USA, where he had a special training  he performed a laparoscopic splenectomy through a single umbilical incision. This new technique is called SILS, standing for Single Incision Laparoscopic Surgery. Its advantage compared to ‘classic laparoscopy’ is purely esthetic (one incision instead of multiple incisions).

Currently, the believers of SILS propose mainly appendectomy and cholecystectomy but other procedures are coming forward. Splenectomy by SILS was already done in the USA but never in Belgium. The patient operated in QFCUCH, is a 13 year old girl with a haematological disease for which splenectomy was necessary.

Just before splenectomy a spleen embolisation was performed (Dr. M. Laureys, interventional radiologist, Brugmann Universitary Hospital). The aim of this highly specialised act is to avoid spleen bleeding and to facilitate spleen manipulation.

The laparoscopic splenectomy (Dr E Van Der Veken, Dr G Rodesch, Paediatric Surgeons) went technically well and the patient was discharged from QFUCH after four days.

With her permission we publish a picture of her wound 10 days after the operation.

In the long run this will be almost invisible.