In an 85-foot tractor trailer parked at Henrico Doctors Hospital, Richmond- area medical professionals had the opportunity to learn and practice the new “belly-button” surgical method earlier this month.

Inside of this mobile training unit were several workstations where local surgeons trained on this new method that is more aesthetically pleasing and less invasive than previous techniques. With this belly-button procedure, known as single-incision laparoscopy, surgeons can now make one small cut right below a patient’s belly-button instead of multiple small cuts on the abdomen to perform gallbladder and kidney removal, hysterectomies and hernia repairs, in addition to other abdominal procedures.

Henrico Doctors’ Chief of Surgery Dr. William Kelley Jr. (pictured, at left, with Dr. Clifford Deal, III) pointed out that the hospital is the first in the Mid-Atlantic region to take advantage of this method. “In the last two years, [Henrico Doctors'] has been the center for surgical innovation,” he said.

Kelley is recognized by many of his colleagues for his extensive knowledge and experience of the procedure, as well as being the first to utilize robots during abdominal surgeries. Over the years, he has performed more than 250 of these single-incision belly-button surgeries.