Minimally Invasive Surgery

Overview

At Mayo Clinic, minimally invasive surgery — also called laparoscopic surgery — is the preferred surgical approach for many illnesses, including heart disease and cancer. Mayo Clinic has one of the largest minimally invasive surgical practices in the United States, and Mayo surgeons perform thousands of laparoscopic procedures each year. Many of these operations are done on an outpatient basis or require only an overnight hospital stay.

Unlike open surgery, which requires a long incision, minimally invasive procedures are performed through one or more short incisions. For most patients, this leads to significantly less postoperative pain, a shorter hospital stay, faster recovery and, in some cases, a better overall outcome. Minimally invasive surgery may also allow more people — some of whom might not be candidates for open surgery — to undergo surgical repair.

Robotic surgery, an advanced form of minimally invasive surgery, plays an increasingly important role at Mayo Clinic. Robotic technology provides magnified, three-dimensional views of the surgical site and gives surgeons greater precision, flexibility and control than is possible with standard laparoscopic instruments and techniques. Important benefits for patients include less blood loss, a considerably faster, less painful recovery and reduced scarring.

Mayo physicians and scientists have pioneered a number of advances in laparoscopic and robotic surgery and are committed to investigating new uses for minimally invasive surgery. The goal is to eliminate the need for conventional surgery through the development and testing of less-invasive treatments.

About minimally invasive surgery

In open surgery — the traditional way of performing an operation — surgeons make long cuts through skin, muscle and sometimes bone. Recovery from open surgery can be painful and slow. Some patients may not resume their normal routine for months.

Minimally invasive procedures are performed through one or more dime-sized incisions, with much less trauma to the body.

Although laparoscopic techniques vary widely, surgeons generally insert an endoscope, a long thin tube with a lighted camera at its tip, through a small incision. The camera sends a two-dimensional image of the surgical site to a high-definition monitor, which the surgeon watches throughout the operation. Specially designed surgical instruments are placed through the original cut or through other small incisions.

The number of incisions depends on the type of surgery — and to some extent, on your surgeon — but the trend is to use fewer and shorter incisions. It's not uncommon for some abdominal operations, such as gallbladder surgery, to be performed through a single incision around the navel. In such cases, patients require only an overnight hospital stay and heal without a scar.