Many of us have heard the term laparoscopic surgery, but do we really know what it means?

When Ken Jacobs went to the emergency room and was told that he had gallstones and an inflamed gallbladder, he immediately knew surgery would be needed. "Went in laparoscopically and then took the gallbladder out."

"Once gallstones are found and once they have symptoms, the recommendation is to take it out, especially now with laparoscopic surgery we can do it minimally invasive." Minimally invasive surgery simply means smaller incisions. Surgeon Dr. Jose Manibo has found that many patients don't fully understand the term laparoscopic and often times they confuse it with laser surgery. "It's not laser surgery, it's just going through small incisions and inserting a camera through that incision."

The camera becomes the surgeon's eyes using the image from the video camera to perform the procedure.

Although some patients may still require traditional open surgery, the laparoscopic approach is now the standard of care for surgeries like gallbladder removal and hernia repair. "I always tell my patients that we will attempt to do it laparscopically."

Laparoscopic surgery usually means smaller scars and less pain for the patient than traditional surgery and like Ken, you're often able to walk and move around within a few short hours following your operation. "I got up and started walking around when I got into the recovery room I didn't have any pain. I'm able to get back now and I can go fly an airplane like I love to do."

In addition to hernia and gallbladder surgery, other surgical procedures routinely done using a laparoscope include the appendectomy, colorectal surgery, and splenectomy.