My take on minimally invasive surgery
Wednesday, May 8, 2013 at 10:57AM Surgery through smaller incisions is vey popular right now with both patients and surgeons. The patients are naturally intrigued by the possibilty of a smaller scar, less pain, and faster recovery. The surgeons want the same benefits for their patients, and also see a marketing opportunity.
The definition of "minimally invasive" can be a little nebulous. I consider minimally invasive lung surgery to be a procedure that uses small incision(s) and avoids spreading the ribs. Minimally invasive heart surgery is an operation that avoids a full sternotomy (full division of the breast bone). For heart surgery, "minimally invasive" and "off-pump" can be confused. I will cover off-pump in a future post, but suffice it to say that a heart operation can be off-pump and/or minimally invasive.
My use of minimally invasive techniques has evolved over 15 years and continues to evolve. I have tried and abandoned techniques which don't provide benefit, or compromise the safety or long-term results of the operation. I have adopted and continue to learn techniques that can truly benefit my patients.
We need to remember that pain is temporary and the sized of the scar is of secondary importance to the quality of the operation. I want each lung cancer patient to have the least possible chance of cancer recurrence. I want each heart surgery patient to have the lowest chance of heart attacks or valve failure in the future. I never want to compromise a lung or heart operation by struggling though key hole incisions. I won't recommend a minimally invasive approach just to keep a patient from going to another surgeon. On the other hand, if I can achieve the same results with less trauma, I'm all for it.
Right now, I am investigating the utility and safety of robotic heart/lung surgery. and non-surgical aortic valve replacement. They seem promising. I'll keep you posted.
Reader Comments (1)
Well yes. MIS has proven to be the best procedure to get cured in terms of heart surgery as the cuts and pains are less which results in faster recovery and healing up. Thanks for sharing this post. Keep sharing..!