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General Surgery Services in New Albany, Indiana
January 28, 2020
General surgeons are physicians who handle a broad scope of surgical problems. Learn more about Baptist Health’s general surgery services and procedures today.
HealthTalks Transcript
Ashley Lankford, MD, FACS, General Surgery:
A general surgeon is a physician practitioner who handles a broad scope of surgical problems. We handle benign and malignant disease of the breast, gall bladder disease, hernia, colon cancer, diseases of the skin and soft tissue, like skin cancer and melanoma. You may be referred to the Emergency Department for abdominal pain that may be consistent with appendicitis. There are a broad-based number of reasons that patients may ultimately be referred here.
In general surgery, we are trained in a broad-based fashion to handle a variety of different disease processes. Sometimes they require an open approach. Now, often we do many things with what we call laparoscopic or minimally invasive [surgery]. The advantage to that is that the incisions are smaller, which means the recovery time is shorter, patients have less pain, and ultimately, the goal being sooner return to their normal activities and lifestyle.
I am really happy and proud to be a part of the Baptist community in this area. I think it allows patients in New Albany and the southern Indiana area to get outstanding care without having to be displaced, or go to a bigger market that they might not prefer or be comfortable with. I love the ability to take care of people and to fix them and see almost an instant benefit for a lot of what I do. If I can’t make the patient healed, oftentimes I can make them better or their quality of life improved. That’s extraordinarily gratifying to me.