Having access to minimally invasive surgery (MIS), where patients can return to work the same day or in just a few days, is of tremendous advantage to patients globally, especially when a patient is the primary income earner for his or her family. To address disparities in global access to MIS, the SAGES Go Global Program promotes the worldwide adoption of MIS through education, research, innovation and training. Through its new iLAP initiative, SAGES partners with international societies and offers instruction on how to build and run a curriculum so surgeons can replicate what they learn and help spread the knowledge and skills required to perform common MIS procedures.
“We are thrilled to partner with the Association Mexicana de Cirugia General on this initiative which will help make tremendous strides in public health for Mexico,” said Dr. Jeffrey Hazey, SAGES Go Global Chair. Dr. Hazey and a team of SAGES surgeons presented the iLAP program to the Asociacion Mexicana de Cirugia General (AMCG) in Mexico City at Senator Fernando Mayans Canabal’s Safe Chole Forum on April 19, 2017. Initial courses, focusing on teaching safe cholecystectomy, or safe and minimally invasive gallbladder surgery, will take place in 9 different centers in Mexico where a need for uniform surgical standards has been perceived. iLAP will track and measure both pre-course and post-course outcomes, using the SIGMA surgical platform, in order to inform future efforts.
“One of the main problems we face when taking care of surgical patients outside the main cities in our country, is the lack of well-prepared surgeons proficient in minimally invasive surgical techniques,” said Senator Fernando Mayans Canabal, M.D. and President of the Social Security Commission. “We estimate that only around 18% of general surgery procedures in Mexico are undertaken laparoscopically and we need to adopt a culture of safety in minimally invasive surgery since our rate of surgical complications in small hospitals within the country is unacceptable,” added the Senator.
“We cannot thank SAGES Go Global and the iLAP team enough for the devotion, tireless efforts and camaraderie they have shown in support for our program,” said Eduardo Moreno Paquetin, M.D. and 2nd Vice President of the Mexican College, AMCG. “They are true friends and we have no doubt that thanks to the joint effort we will make a difference in the way minimally invasive surgery is practiced in our country to the benefit of Mexican patients.”The first 2 of 9 planned iLAP courses will take place this summer in Guadalajara and Mexico City.
Over 750,000 cholecystectomies are performed each year in the United States alone and patients benefit from reduced pain, faster return to normal activities, and reduced risk of surgical site infection with a laparoscopic approach compared to an open operation. However, bile duct injury rates have increased since the introduction of laparoscopic cholecystectomy, occurring in about 3 per 1,000 procedures performed, thus increased training on safe chole practices is critical to improving outcomes. Through iLAP, SAGES is committed to improving safe chole outcomes internationally.
SAGES Go Global: Leveraging Laparoscopy and Endoscopy to Change Global Health
The mission of SAGES Go Global is to promote global collaboration and exchange of knowledge to optimize patient care. Through its webcasting and new iLAP Program, SAGES operates on an international level providing surgical educational worldwide to improve health care in low resource regions. Since its founding, SAGES Go Global has held over 27 International Proctoring Courses. Collectively these sites have performed over 6,000 basic laparoscopic cases making the majority of the sites not only self-sustainable but a model for duplicating training efforts that expand across each country. An annual webcast from the SAGES Congress is broadcast to more than 67 countries internationally in areas such as Peru, the Philippines, and Tanzania and into remote locations in Iraq and Afghanistan and has engaged over 3,000 surgeons worldwide, including the U.S. Military and Royal Military.
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