Minimally invasive surgery in action: Mykolaiv doctors perform unique surgery for liver abscess

The Mykolaiv City Emergency Hospital continues to introduce minimally invasive treatment methods in surgery. One of the latest examples is the successful surgery of an elderly patient.

According to the city health department, this is the eighth such operation in the department in recent years, when surgeons have used laparoscopy to treat liver abscesses.

Ihor Holovin, head of the surgical department, who personally performed the operation, provided details of the patient's course of the disease.

«The patient was hospitalised with symptoms that had been bothering her for a month — unexplained weakness, malaise, lack of appetite, heaviness in the right hypochondrium, and a temperature with a tendency to rise to 39°C. After a computed tomography scan, the diagnosis was a large abscess of the right lobe of the liver,» said Ihor Holovin.

He noted that the very next day after the operation, the patient's temperature returned to normal, she had an appetite, and she was feeling well and undergoing further recovery.

Mykolaiv doctors performing the operation. Photo: City Health Department

As for the choice of treatment method, the surgeon emphasises the advantages of laparoscopy. Although the method is not universal, Ihor Holovin emphasises that the department has considerable experience in using this technique.

«Our department has experience in laparoscopic treatment of patients with liver abscesses of various etiologies and locations. Of the 8 patients operated on, two had multiple abscesses of both livers. All patients were discharged healthy, without complications,» stated the head of the department.

The doctor also drew attention to the importance of timely medical care.

As a reminder, the Mykolaiv Healthcare Board came up with an initiative to reduce the number of hospitals in the city from six to three by merging them.