An Overview of Minimally Invasive Surgery

Technological advancements in recent years have significantly impacted every aspect of the medical space, but surgical advancements have particularly seen tremendous growth. For instance, minimally invasive surgery techniques and endoscopic procedures are becoming more popular. However, before this, surgeons typically used traditional open surgery, which involved making large cuts on a patient’s body to operate on a section of the body effectively.

The drive for innovative and safer surgical techniques led to the development of minimally invasive surgery. These are surgery techniques that involve the use of advanced instruments such as robotic technology, which is capable of very precise movements to create small incisions on a person’s body without opening up their abdomen or other body parts involved in the surgery. As a result, recovery time, complications, and pain are reduced.

Today, minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is fast becoming the standard for several surgical procedures typically done using the open technique. One such procedure is arterial embolization, which involves the insertion of solid particles or a special liquid into the body through the renal artery, which blocks blood flow to the tumor, causing it to wither and die from oxygen deprivation.

Further, the bilateral axillo-breast approach (BABA) is another minimally invasive surgical procedure. However, this procedure utilizes robotics to treat larger thyroid glands and some instances of thyroid cancer. Likewise, flap breast reconstruction utilizes robotics to create a new breast mound on a person’s chest wall by separating and rotating the latissimus muscle forward. Minimally invasive surgery is also used for several other procedures, including spine surgery, laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy, and laparoscopic colectomy.

Robotic surgery is a popular type of minimally invasive surgery that is gaining widespread adoption. This is a surgical technique in which surgeons use robotic systems with precise movements to perform complex procedures with greater flexibility and control than traditional techniques allow.

Though there are various factors responsible for the popularity of robotic surgery over other minimally invasive surgery techniques, one of the most notable is its “motion scaling” software, which allows surgeons to perform incredibly delicate techniques precisely while providing them with a 3-D view of the operative field.

Further, the numerous benefits of minimally invasive surgery have played a major role in its widespread appeal. For instance, because minimally invasive surgery requires small incisions on the patient’s body, they can recover faster than they would with traditional abdominal procedures.

Patients who undergo a minimally invasive procedure spend only one night in the hospital, whereas open procedures frequently require between 2 and 3 days of rest. The total recovery time also varies greatly, with a minimally invasive hysterectomy taking 3 to 4 weeks and a traditional abdominal hysterectomy taking 6 to 8 weeks.

Minimally invasive surgery has come a long way in the last 20 years, and its widespread adoption has significantly impacted the world of medicine. As a result, open surgeries are rapidly becoming obsolete. With continued advances in robotic and endoscopic technology, minimally invasive surgery will play an important role in the future of modern medicine.