Minimally Invasive Surgery

Overview

Your Mayo Clinic doctor may recommend minimally invasive surgery — also called laparoscopic surgery — for several conditions. In minimally invasive procedures, your doctor makes one or more incisions, each about a half-inch long, to insert a tube. The number of incisions depends on the type of surgery. The tube or tubes let the doctor slip in tiny video cameras and specially designed surgical instruments to perform the procedure.

When you have minimally invasive surgery, you're likely to lose less blood and have less postoperative pain, fewer and smaller scars, and a faster recovery than you would after open surgery. Depending on your condition, you may need only a short hospital stay.

For some conditions, your doctor may recommend robotic surgery. That technology gives your doctor great precision, flexibility and control by providing a magnified, 3-D view of the surgical site.

Why choose Mayo Clinic

• Experience. Mayo Clinic doctors have been leaders in minimally invasive surgery for many years and perform thousands of the procedures every year.
• Expertise. Mayo Clinic doctors and scientists have pioneered a number of advances in laparoscopic and robotic surgery.
• Team approach. Integrated teams of doctors, nurses and other medical professionals work together with a focus on continually improving patient care and safety.

Why Choose Mayo Clinic
What Sets Mayo Clinic Apart