Surgery

Types of surgery we provide

The department of surgery at Portneuf Medical Center is among the most highly regarded surgical services teams in the region. With a proud history of clinical excellence, our surgical team respond with comprehensive, extraordinary care. Our team of board-certified physicians, uses the most advanced technology, including minimally invasive robotic surgical equipment (da Vinci Robot). They are not only dedicated to their patients, but are invested in this community and region. Our highly trained specialized surgeons are committed to providing excellence in surgical care and they look forward to being a part of your healthcare team.

Our surgical specialists provide the following treatments:

• Abdominal surgery — Our surgeons provide procedures like appendectomy, as well as surgical treatments for conditions affecting the gallbladder, liver, stomach, and pancreas.
• Bariatric surgery – Our bariatric surgeons provide weight loss surgical treatments, including Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy.
• Breast surgery — Our breast surgeons offer oncoplastic surgery, which helps improve cosmetic outcomes after breast cancer surgery.
• Cancer surgery — Our oncology team offers a variety of surgical procedures to treat different types of cancer.
• Cardiac surgery — We provide a wide range of cardiovascular surgical treatments, including pacemaker implantation, aneurysm treatments, coronary angioplasty and more.
• Endocrine surgery — Our surgeons offer treatments for endocrine disorders affecting the thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenal glands.
• Gastrointestinal surgery — Our GI doctors offer treatments and screening services that include colonoscopy, endoscopic ultrasounds, and more at our gastroenterology clinic.
• Gynecologic surgery — Our women’s health specialists provide various gynecological treatments, including endometriosis resection and ovarian cystectomy.
• Hernia repair — We provide comprehensive hernia treatments at our state-of-the-art Idaho Hernia Center.
• Minimally invasive surgery — Using leading-edge technology, our surgeons offer minimally invasive (robotic) surgery, which has many benefits when compared with traditional surgery. These techniques tend to offer patients faster recoveries, less risk of surgical site infection, and a quicker discharge from the hospital.
• Orthopedic surgery — Our orthopedic surgeons provide surgical treatments for the knees, hips, shoulders, spine, neck, foot, and ankle. We also provide sports medicine treatments for athletic injuries.
• Trauma/critical care surgery — When you’ve had a traumatic injury, our critical care specialists are available to provide exceptional surgical care.
• Urological surgery — We offer urological treatments for kidney stones, urologic cancers, and more.

Please call us for more information about our surgical services.

Minimally invasive surgery

At Portneuf Medical Center, we use robotic technology to provide our surgeons with enhanced vision, accuracy, and precision when performing complex operations. We are proud to be the only hospital in Idaho to have acquired the Da Vinci 5 Surgical System. This provides our surgeons with the most advanced technology available in minimally invasive surgery for urology, gynecology, thoracic and general surgery cases.

Our surgeons also have access to two Da Vinci XI surgical robots, as well as a MAKO Smart Robot. As a regional referral hospital, we invest in our surgical team and technology to ensure our patients receive the highest level of surgical care in the region.

Our robotic surgery team is comprised of surgeons, a specially-designated team of nurses, technicians, and operating staff who have experience performing hundreds of minimally invasive surgeries every year. Our team approach and depth of experience allows us to excel in surgical quality and safety.

We offer a number of treatments using minimally invasive surgery, including:

• Appendectomy
• Colon resection
• Endometriosis resection
• Gastrectomy
• Gastrectomy sleeve
• Hernia repair
• Ovarian cystectomy
• Pelvic organ prolapse surgery
• Prostatectomy
• Rectal prolapse surgery
• Total or partial knee replacement surgery
• Total hip replacement surgery

This is just a small list of surgical treatments we provide using robotic technology. Please speak to your doctor about whether minimally invasive surgery is right for you.

Breast cancer surgery

The surgical team at Portneuf Medical Center includes experts in oncoplastic surgery, which is an approach to breast cancer removal surgery that improves cosmetic outcomes. To achieve this, surgeons perform a lumpectomy while incorporating plastic surgery techniques to preserve the physical appearance of a patient’s natural breasts.

There are several oncoplastic surgery options based on breast cancer characteristics, the patient’s body, and the patient’s preferences. A surgeon may: 

• Reposition nearby breast tissue to fill in the space left after the cancer is removed to prevent dents in the skin and make the incision in a less visible place
• Remove the breast tissue containing cancer and perform a breast reduction, lift, or both during the same procedure If needed
• Make adjustments to the other breast to ensure a balanced appearance

If you are seeking breast surgery, oncoplastic surgery increases the range of options available to you while enabling better aesthetic outcomes. The ultimate goal of oncoplastic surgery is to minimize the effect of breast cancer removal by leaving you immediately whole without significant deformity or asymmetry.

Our highly skilled breast surgeons recognize that breast surgery is deeply personal. We believe in the power of partnership with our patients to determine an effective treatment plan that prioritizes your health and preferences.

Pain management services

Our surgeons want your surgery to provide you with the best possible health outcomes. That’s why we use leading-edge technology and best practices to provide you with exceptional surgical care. We’ve also compiled the following tips to help you manage pain before and after surgery.

• Ask questions. Find out how severe the pain typically is after this type of surgery, and how long it lasts. What kind of pain medications will be given before and after surgery? What are the possible side effects of these medications? What can be done to minimize side effects?
• Be honest about your alcohol and drug use. Tell your doctor if you’re a recovering alcoholic or have a history of other addiction. If so, you can plan for pain control that minimizes the risk of relapse. If you’re currently misusing alcohol or drugs even those that have been prescribed for you, let your doctor know. Withdrawing from these substances can be difficult, and the post-surgical period is not the time to try it.
• Brace your surgery site. One of the simplest things you can do to prevent surgery pain is to brace your surgical incision. Bracing just means holding your incision/surgery site when you do anything that can cause stress on the site, including standing up, sneezing and coughing.
• Consider non-prescription pain medication. You don’t necessarily have to choose between taking prescription pain medication or no pain medicine. You can use over-the-counter pain medication, with your surgeon’s approval, to take care of pain that is not severe enough to warrant prescription drugs, but not improved enough for no pain medication.
• Coping with pain after surgery doesn’t have to mean taking more pain medication. Using a combination of these strategies to control surgery pain can be very helpful and can provide better pain relief than medication alone.
• Discuss previous experiences with pain. Before surgery, talk to your doctor about your experience with different methods of pain control. Mention what worked for you and what didn’t.
• Discuss your concerns about pain medications. If you’re afraid of side effects or overdosing on pain medications, talk to your doctor. He or she can help you understand strategies to safely manage your pain.
• Don’t sit too long. Sitting or lying in one place for too long can lead to more pain. Getting up and walking every hour or two during the day helps keep you from getting stiff and offers the added benefit of decreasing the risk of developing blood clots after your procedure. Many people avoid walking because the move from sitting to standing can be a painful one. If your pain is so severe that you are unable to complete simple tasks such as standing and walking, you should consult your surgeon.
• Get enough sleep. Sleep is one of the most important things you can do to control your pain. Adequate sleep improves your ability to cope with pain, speeds healing, and can actually reduce pain. The trick is to reduce your pain enough to sleep well, which may require medication along with proper positioning.
• Increase physical activity slowly. What feels good when you are doing it may not feel very good a few hours later. When you are recovering from surgery, feeling better may seem like an invitation to return to your normal activities. Unfortunately, it is very easy to do too much, which increases your pain level and makes it difficult to move forward with your physical activity. Increase your physical activity slowly – no more than a few extra minutes per day – until you have truly recovered from your procedure and are able to return your full potential.
• Make a list of your medications. Include all prescription and over-the-counter medications, plus any supplements or herbs you’ve taken in the past month. Your surgeon and anesthesia provider needs to know about anything that might interact with post-surgical pain medications. Include dosages and how many times a day you take them.
• Reduce stress. Stress is the enemy of good pain control. An increase in stress can, and often does, increase pain. Surgery is a type of physical stress, and while that cannot be avoided, emotional stress can be minimized. Stress reduction techniques, such as deep breathing and relaxation exercises, can be very beneficial.
• Stay ahead of the pain. Getting ahead of the pain means not waiting until your pain is severe before you take your medication. If you wait until your pain is severe or increasing, it will be more difficult to control your pain, especially after waiting for the medication to be absorbed by your body and take effect. In the days immediately following your surgery, try taking your pain medication as prescribed by your surgeon. As your pain improves, you can extend the time between doses until you are able to quit using it altogether.
• Talk about chronic pain. If you have chronic pain, you’ll likely have to deal with that pain in addition to the post-surgical pain. Your body may be less sensitive to pain medication if you’re taking medications for chronic pain. This is a phenomenon called tolerance. Discuss this in detail with your surgeon before surgery.
• What would you normally do? Just because you had surgery does not mean the ways that you typically control pain won’t work. For example, if you find that when you have a normal ache or pain, your pain responds better to ibuprofen (Advil) than naproxen (Aleve), your surgery pain will probably respond similarly. The same is true of heating pads and other pain aids that you might use regularly.

Surgery Locations