Q: How is it that a hysterectomy is possible by going in through the belly button?
A: We make an incision, a little more than an inch long, just below the navel. We insert the camera and instruments through a port that’s shaped sort of like a Tupperware lid. We switch instruments through the same port, cutting and cauterizing (stanching the bleeding) with little blood loss and good visualization of the abdomen. Then we simply remove the uterus and cervix through the vagina.
(Editor’s note: The procedure, relatively new, is called single-port laparoscopic surgery.)