JEDDAH: An international surgical conference opened at Dr. Soliman Fakeeh Hospital yesterday. More than 30 experts from the Kingdom and elsewhere in the world are taking part in the three-day event, discussing the latest laparoscopic and endoscopic surgical procedures and skills.
“A hands-on training workshop and live surgery sessions are among the highlights of the conference, where participants will be able to view the surgical procedures through video conferencing,” said Dr. Mazen Fakeeh, director of the hospital. “The main focus of this event will be on the various laparoscopic procedures for the treatment of obesity, gastrointestinal diseases, hernia and liver diseases,” he added.
Dr. Ashraf Bakr, director of surgery department at the hospital who is also the secretary-general of the conference, said: “Laparoscopic techniques have many advantages over traditional open surgeries, such as less pain, early recovery, early mobilization, less complications and finally reduced costs.”
He added: “Laparoscopic surgery has advanced very rapidly in the last few years with systematic scientific and technical improvements. Today, many traditional procedures can be performed using laparoscopic techniques, but the most successful common ones are for gall bladder where the patient will have little to no scarring and a quicker recovery.”
The conference program has been carefully designed to incorporate many of the medical practices from leading experts in other fields, such as organ transplants, breast diseases and tumors, plastic and vascular surgery, endocrine surgery and minimally invasive surgery.
Keynote speakers include professor Manuel Viamonte, consultant surgeon from Advanced Surgical Associates at Mercy Hospital in Florida, and Dr. Kareem Abul Majd, professor at the transplant surgery division of University of Pittsburgh. Surgeons from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the UAE are also among the speakers.
