Minimally invasive surgery training at Cardinal Santos Medical Center

MANILA, Philippines - Given the choice, patients would opt for alternatives to open surgery. One of the best options available for them is minimally invasive surgery (MIS).

Dr. Alfred Allen E. Buenafe, executive director of the MIS Training Center at the newly opened Philippine Center for Advanced Surgery (PCAS) of Cardinal Santos Medical Center (CSMC), said that MIS has been available to Filipino patients for more than two decades.

“The most basic of the MIS procedures, laparoscopic cholesystectomy or the removal of the gall bladder using the laparoscopy technique, has actually been existent in the country since 1990,” Dr. Buenafe said.

He explained that as opposed to open surgery, laparoscopy allows the surgeon to conduct a minimally invasive surgery using a small, lighted tube that would enable him to see the patient’s insides through a camera. 

The surgeon inserts the instrument in a few, small incisions made on the patient’s body, and the patient experiences less physiological trauma and is able to recover quickly from the operation.

He said that compared to traditional surgery, the body’s physiologic response to MIS is negligible. “Since the incisions made through MIS are considerably smaller, the wounds heal faster,” the internationally renowned MIS lecturer pointed out. 

He added, “The infection rate of laparoscopy is so nil compared to open surgery, because aside from smaller incisions, only the instruments — and not the surgeon’s hands — get inside the patient’s body.”

While choosing MIS over open surgery can be as simple as choosing a small wound over a large wound, patients also have to be aware that the more technologically advanced procedure is logically more expensive.

“The machines, instruments and all the peripherals used in MIS are expensive, but patients should also consider the loss of income that longer recovery time entails,” Dr. Buenafe said.

The MIS Training Center was designed to enable local and foreign medical experts to access modern surgical equipment and learn under the best medical professionals in the field of advanced surgery.

Dr. Buenafe stressed that any medical institution or school in the country could conduct their surgical training in PCAS.

“This is the only training center in the country right now that could provide training comparable to those in advanced countries,” Dr. Buenafe said.

Local medical practitioners could save hundreds of thousands of pesos in foreign training costs by availing themselves of PCAS’ resources, he added.

According to Dr. Buenafe, training in the country through the MIS Training Center will be a lot less expensive than going abroad.

“Training in countries like the US usually costs a doctor US$2,000 to US$3,000 for lectures alone and at least US$5,000 for hands-on training, exclusive of his airfare, daily meals, and hotel accommodation,” he said. 

The MIS Training Center boasts facilities that rival the best in the region. 

There is a Dry Lab that uses virtual stimulation in a risk-free environment. Using advanced simulation equipment, trainees will develop basic and advanced endosurgical skills, such as eye-hand coordination skills, knot-tying, dissection, and suturing.

The Skills Lab houses eight state-of-the-art operating workstations. Each station consists of endolaparoscopy equipment with high-resolution imaging, operative microscopes, and robotic devices for surgical practice on live tissues of animals.

There is also a dedicated lecture room that could accommodate 60 trainees at a time, and a 142-seater auditorium, which shows live surgery transmissions from the main hospital’s Operating Room 6 during MIS trainings via “high-definition bi-directional” video conference.

For training schedules and other information on the MIS Training Center, medical practitioners can call 727-0001 local 5401 and 5402 or visit www.cardinalsantos.com.ph for more information. 

Cardinal Santos Medical Center (CSMC), located at 10 Wilson St., Greenhills West, San Juan City,  is a modern tertiary hospital and academic institution managed by Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC).