​More women are benefiting from vNOTES (Vaginal Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery), a novel approach to minimally invasive scar-less technique for gynaecological surgeries. This includes hysterectomy, removal of fallopian tubes and ovaries, ovarian cyst removal, as well as advanced urogynaecological and gynae-oncological surgeries.

KKH is among the few leading healthcare institutions in the world and the main centre in Singapore to perform vNOTES, with potentially 400 patients benefiting each year. It is performed via a small cut in the vagina using laparoscopy instruments, leaving no visible scar. The technique requires extensive expertise and experience in both minimally invasive surgery and urogynaecology.

“With VNOTES, the patient experiences less pain, minimal blood loss and faster recovery. This is a novel alternative option to the conventional open abdominal hysterectomy, which is a major surgery that involves higher complications, longer recovery and hospitalisation and leaves a large scar,” says Dr Kazila Bhutia, Consultant, Department of Urogynaecology, KKH.

“Looking ahead, we aim to train more specialists in the vNOTES technique so that it can be made available widely as a mainstay option for gynaecological surgeries” adds Dr Kazila.