Swapping scalpels for non-invasive treatments
New York, US-based board-certified general surgeon Dr Andrew Rochman has taken on the ‘no more scalpel’ movement in an effort to move away from invasive surgical procedures in patient care.
The movement is a trend in surgical treatments to reduce the risks of complications and painful recovery time. “Eliminating the act of breaking into skin or exposing the patient to unnecessary injury is, to me, smarter medicine,” Dr Rochman said. “Invasive procedures and entering the body cavity exists when there is no alternative when trying to restore the patient's health or to save lives. From the removal of tumours, transplants, repairing broken bones, caesarean births and intrusion removal surgeries – it's a reflection of what worked best at one time.”
In recent years, the medical community has developed alternative methods such as innovations in radiotherapy that are now routinely used to treat cancer, and laser technology, which includes a wide array of procedures such as treating skin conditions, breaking kidney stones and Lasik to treat glaucoma and other eyesight disorders. An important development in non-invasive procedures is cellular therapy, which uses stem cells extracted from the body to treat diseases and disorders.
Dr Rochman is a member of the American Medical Association, the Medical Society of the State of New York, Nassau County Medical Society and the American College of Phlebology. He is a Laparoscopic surgeon, a certified practitioner for Stem Cell Therapy, the Medical Director of his vein therapy practice in Plainview, New York and an attending physician at St Joseph Hospital in Bethpage, New York.