Photo by Peter Silvia.

Surgery — in the past regarded as a last resort in medical treatment — is moving to the frontline with the widespread adoption of minimally invasive surgery techniques.

Minimally invasive surgery, which uses small incisions to reduce scarring and speed recovery, is now performed in just about every surgical specialty — from orthopedic and general surgery to complex brain surgery. More and more, it is becoming the standard, rather than the exception, in surgical care.

Not every surgery can be performed with minimally invasive techniques. Check with your surgeon about whether you may be a candidate for a minimally invasive approach.

Major surgery through tiny incisions

Most surgery, particularly abdominal surgery, has required a very large, open incision, often about eight to 10 inches in diameter. This involves significant trauma to the patient, including pain from the incision, blood loss, chance for infections and other complications. As a result, patients are often in the hospital for over a week for major procedures, and can't return to work or do normal activities at home for at least a month.

Minimally invasive surgery is performed through several tiny incisions — usually about a half-inch wide—using a thin, fiber optic telescope called a laparoscope, which is a small camera hooked up to a video screen. It projects a magnified, lighted image of internal organs onto a large television screen. The laparoscope serves as surgeons' "super-eyes" — allowing them to see the operating field in a detail not possible with standard, open surgery.

Surgeons use other small incisions to insert instruments — thin graspers and cutting instruments, that can grasp and move organs and remove tissue. The instruments are inserted into the body through thin tubes, or "cannulas." There may be up to four or five of these tubes used, depending on the kind of surgery. Everything is done while the surgeon watches a video screen.

At the end of the surgery, the tubes and instruments are withdrawn and the incisions are closed with just a few stitches.

What are the advantages of minimally invasive surgery?

Not every surgery can be performed with minimally invasive techniques. However, most types of surgery can now be performed this way.

Advantages for the patient include:

• Shorter hospital stay. Most patients are in the hospital for less than 24 hours for many minimally invasive procedures. Some, more complicated procedures require a stay of several days, although patients who have these procedures done with open surgery are usually in the hospital for over a week.

• Less pain, due to smaller incisions and less trauma to internal organs.

• Better cosmetic results.

• Faster return to solid diet.

• Quicker return to normal activity.