Doctors Remove Woman's Gallbladder Through Her Mouth

California doctors removed a woman's gallbladder through her mouth using a new surgical technique, the Los Angeles Times reported.

This woman’s surgery, called NOTES, or natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery, was part of a clinical trial at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

The technique for traditional laparoscopic surgeries is to remove the gallbladder or appendix by making tiny incisions in the abdominal wall and inserting a small camera and tools for the removal.

While laparoscopic surgeries are minimally invasive, NOTES takes a less invasive approach by using the mouth or vagina to access parts of the body in need of surgery. The new procedure eliminates the need for incisions and stitches by passing tools down the mouth and through a tiny hole created in the stomach.

A long, open incision used to be required to perform this type of surgery.

Doctors at UCSD’s Center for the Future of Surgery also performed the first oral appendix removal.

Click here to read more from the Los Angeles Times.