When you need the superior skills of a highly capable surgeon, you can trust Truman Medical Centers/University Health for expert care.
Our surgery centers
To better serve your needs, we offer surgical services at a variety of locations:
Lakewood Surgery Center. We perform both inpatient and outpatient surgeries. We're pleased to offer advanced technologies, like the da Vinci Surgical System, along with lots of personal attention for you and your family in a quiet, healing environment.
University Health Surgery Center. Our surgery center has four state-of-the-art surgical suites, as well as private preoperative rooms for patients and their family members to be together.
Truman Medical Center Health Sciences District. We offer a wide range of inpatient and outpatient surgeries. Whether you need brain surgery, trauma surgery or chest surgery, we have you covered.
Surgical procedures we perform
We provide a full range of surgical options at our state-of-the-art facilities. This includes elective procedures that can improve your quality of life as well as operations that can save your life.
Anesthesia: True or false?
Anesthesia, or anesthetics, blocks all feeling and can help you get through medical procedures without pain—and, often, without awareness.
While "going under" may be common, how much do you know about anesthesia?
True or false: Ether was the first anesthetic successfully used to put people under for surgery.
True. In 1846, a dentist demonstrated how ether fumes could be used to knock people out during surgery.
True or false: General anesthetics allow you to become unconscious and can only be delivered by gas.
False. General anesthesia does knock you out so that you have no awareness or sensations during surgery. But these drugs can be injected into your bloodstream or inhaled as a gas.
True or false: Getting anesthesia always means becoming unconscious.
False. Some anesthetics can be given with or without sedation, so you can stay awake. A local anesthetic numbs only a small part of your body, such as a tooth or a finger. A regional anesthetic helps numb larger areas and is delivered through a cluster of nerves.
True or false. General anesthetics that are inhaled wear off faster than those that are injected into veins.
False. Inhaled anesthetics take longer to wear off than those given through the veins. Intravenous anesthetics disappear from the bloodstream quickly, allowing patients to go home sooner after surgery.
True or false: Anesthesiologists are medical doctors.
True. Anesthesiologists have a medical degree. They also have to complete a four-year residency in anesthesiology.
Are you scheduled for a medical procedure or surgery? Ask your doctor what kind of anesthesia you can expect to have.
Some of our specialties are:
- Heart procedures performed in our cardiac catheterization lab.
- Gallbladder surgery.
- General surgery.
- Hernia surgery.
- Joint replacement surgery.
- Neurosurgery.
- Oral and maxillofacial surgery.
- Plastic surgery.
- Orthopaedic surgery.
- Gynecologic surgery.
- Thoracic surgery.
- Trauma surgery for serious and life-threatening injuries seen in the Emergency Department.
- Foot and ankle surgery.
We also offer advanced procedures you won't find just anywhere. One example is hepatobiliary and pancreas surgeries (HPB) for pancreatic and other cancers.
Minimally invasive and robotic surgeries
Our surgeons use minimally invasive techniques to perform many types of procedures. These surgeries use very small incisions compared to traditional surgery. This technique may allow for a faster recovery and less pain after your procedure.
In some cases, our surgeons perform robotic-assisted surgery using the da Vinci Surgical System. When guided by our skilled surgeons, robotic surgery tools can make surgeries more precise. The da Vinci Surgical System is available at Lakewood Surgery Center at Truman Medical Center Lakewood.
Our board-certified surgeons and skilled team
We have highly skilled, board-certified surgeons and anesthesiologists. Many of our surgeons have fellowship training in spine or trauma surgery. Our surgery staff also includes registered nurses and technicians with special training in surgical and recovery care.
Many of our surgeons are faculty members of the University of Missouri – Kansas City School of Medicine. They are researchers and experts who are training tomorrow's top surgeons.