Academic Research

Professor Bailey leads an active research team at the Minimal Access Therapy Training Unit in Guildford, which is the UK's largest international centre of excellence for laparoscopic surgery dedicated to the research and teaching of techniques in laparoscopic surgery. At the forefront of technology, the unit regularly submits papers to peer-reviewed journals.

Professor Bailey, left, accompanies Mr Bernard Ribeiro, President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, who opened the new MATTU building on 21st April 2006.

The unit is host to six research fellows. Recent fellows have submitted Theses on subjects including robotic surgery, training by simulation, and laparoscopic extra-peritoneal hernia repair.

NOTES

Current research is being undertaken into NOTES (Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery). This type of surgery involves operating on the abdomen and removing the tissue through a natural orifice (mouth, vagina or rectum) without cuts on the body surface.

Teleteaching

Major research interests of the Unit are telemedicine and teleteaching. It has the ability to link with other centres such as the European Institute for Tele-Surgery in Strasbourg, France, and several other Units as far afield as Australia, Hong Kong, America and South Africa. Live surgical demonstrations are transmitted across the world via the Unit's ISDN link, enhancing the international teaching of laparoscopic surgery.

Laparoscopic Hernia Repair

The Unit is a leading centre of research in one of the Professor's main interests, hernia surgery. The Unit has performed more laparoscopic extra-peritoneal (TEP) hernia repairs than any other unit. This method has been shown in 46 randomised trials to allow a quicker and more painless recovery for the patients, compared with open operation, and yet provide an equally low or lower recurrence rate. In the 3,500 laparoscopic hernia repairs carried out in the Unit, the recurrence rate is 0.6%.

Laparoscopic Nissen Fundoplication

The Unit was the first in the world to carry out a series of Laparoscopic Nissen Fundoplications for patients with hiatus hernia as day cases. To be able to perform this type of procedure as a day patient has important implications for the patient, with a quicker return to their home, a more rapid recovery and earlier return to work. The paper was published in the British Journal of Surgery and won the prize at the Association of Endoscopic Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland.