You will be given general anesthesia a few minutes before surgery so you are asleep and do not feel pain while the surgeon is working on you. There are two ways to perform a splenectomy: laparoscopic surgery and open surgery. Laparoscopic splenectomy is done using an instrument called a laparoscope. This is a slender tool with a light and camera on the end. The surgeon makes three or four small cuts in the abdomen, and inserts the laparoscope through one of them. This allows the doctor to look into the abdominal area and locate the spleen. Different medical instruments are passed through the other openings. One of them is used to deliver carbon dioxide gas into the abdominal area, which pushes nearby organs out of the way and gives your surgeon more room to work. The surgeon disconnects the spleen from surrounding structures and the body’s blood supply, and then removes it through the largest surgical opening. The surgical openings are closed using stitches or sutures. Sometimes during laparoscopic splenectomy the doctor has to switch to the open procedure. This may happen if you have bleeding problems during the operation. Open splenectomy requires a larger surgical cut than the laparoscopic method. The surgeon makes an incision across the middle or left side of your abdomen underneath the rib cage. After locating the spleen, the surgeon disconnects it from the pancreas and the body’s blood supply, and then removes it. The surgical openings are closed using stitches or sutures.