Port LapSurgery - Specialist Procedures
Experiencing a gallbladder attack? Know your rights before entering the Emergency Department.
If you are currently experiencing right upper abdominal pain, nausea, or mid-back pain after eating, you may be experiencing a symptomatic gallstone attack.
Learn more about your treatment pathways. As an Australian healthcare consumer, you have the statutory right to request a formal private consultation with your choice of accredited specialist under the Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights.
Many regional patients assume that their only option during an acute flare-up is to present to a public hospital Emergency Department. However, unless you are showing systemic signs of a severe, life-threatening infection (such as a high fever, uncontrollable chills, or jaundice/yellowing of the eyes), you are not legally or clinically required to wait for hours on a public emergency trolley to be operated on by whoever generalist happens to be on call that night.
Under Australian healthcare guidelines, you have a statutory right to choose your specialist. You can legally request a safe clinical discharge from an emergency triage desk or an outpatient clinic to seek a definitive, private consultation with the region's dedicated specialist.
Don't let your care be absorbed into an anonymous public generalist pool. You can detour around public hospital waitlists and arrange an immediate private admission with a board-certified subspecialist.
While a standard laparoscopic cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal) is considered a standard operation, safe execution relies entirely on the surgeon's precise management of intricate liver and bile duct anatomy. Complicated gallstone disease can cause severe anatomical distortion, increasing the risk of major complications if handled by a generic general surgeon.
Dr George Petrou is the Mid North Coast's only tertiary-trained, post-fellowship Specialist General Surgeon with subspecialty expertise in Hepatobiliary and Upper GI Surgery. Following his Fellowship with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (FRACS), he completed dedicated, high-volume liver surgical oncology and hepatobiliary fellowships at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and St George Hospital in Sydney.
Dr Petrou's practice maintains a prospective electronic database demonstrating a post-operative bile leak rate of under 0.7% (Based on our practice’s independent, prospective electronic data tracking log of consecutive elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy cases since 2008.), significantly outperforming standard national benchmarks.
Having executed an unassailable 8,000+ public and private laparoscopic procedures in the region since 2008, Dr Petrou provides an elite level of technical precision that generalist triage simply cannot replicate.
Clinical data indicates that ignoring or delaying elective surgical intervention for symptomatic gallstones carries severe, long-term health risks. Over a 5-year period, up to 60% of patients with untreated symptomatic gallstones will suffer a severe, acute clinical complication.
If you are experiencing any of the following symptoms, your biliary architecture requires an expert assessment:
Sudden, severe, gripping pain in the upper right abdomen that radiates through to the right shoulder blade or mid-back, frequently lasting from 30 minutes to several hours.
Acute nausea, vomiting, upper abdominal bloating, and indigestion triggered specifically by eating fatty or rich foods.
Ongoing, persistent upper abdominal discomfort that disrupts your standard quality of life and sleep patterns.
Laparoscopic surgery for gallstone disease is the most common operation which Dr Petrou performs. These include laparoscopic cholecystectomy and laparoscopic bile duct exploration, in particular for failed ERCP. Gallstone disease is a very common problem to afflict Australians. Most stones are mixed with a predominantly cholesterol component. This means that the cause of gallstones is most likely secondary to an environmental agent, such as diet.
Before the laparoscopic era, surgery for gallstones used to be a morbid operation with large incisions and long hospital stays. With the technological improvements in laparoscopic surgery, a key hole approach is considered as the gold standard. Most experienced surgeons around Australia can now perform this surgery as a day case procedure, as very little pain is experienced after laparoscopic surgery.
Patients with symptomatic gallstone disease have a 60% rate of complications from their gallstones in the next 5 years from diagnosis. Common complications are cholecystitis, gallbladder perforation, cholangitis, acute pancreatitis, liver abscess and gallbladder cancer. Some of these complications are life threatening. Surgery for gallstone disease is the only proven definitive treatment modality.
Dr Petrou provides high volume laparoscopic gallstone surgery to patients in the NSW Mid North Coast at the Port Macquarie Private Hospital and Port Macquarie Base Hospital. Dr Petrou utilizes a highly structured clinical governance framework, maintaining an independent, prospective electronic tracking database of all laparoscopic procedures to consistently audit safety margins and optimize patient outcomes.
Symptomatic patients can consult independently with any AHPRA-registered general practitioner. If your consulting doctor confirms that your community upper abdominal ultrasound and pathology indicate subspecialty review, they can securely transmit your formal referral to our rooms electronically via Medical Objects or Argus within 24 hours—bypassing the public waitlist loop entirely.
Click here to arrange an immediate telehealth referral
Contact our dedicated clinical coordinator directly on (02) 6584 3268 or email reception@portlapsurgery.com.au.
Information is general only and does not replace advice from your treating clinician. Contact the practice for current details.
Any questions related to Port LapSurgery? Tap below to chat with us on WhatsApp.
Start chat