When is minimally invasive surgery better than traditional surgery?
It’s not often that a surgical technique becomes a national craze. But endoscopic or minimally invasive surgery has, albeit a minor one. It’s in the newspaper. It’s on the lips of your uncle, who can’t resist showing off his tiny scars at every family function. Even on your commute to work, billboards trumpet the minimally invasive surgery centers at competing local hospitals. “For patients, ‘minimally invasive’ are the hot buzzwords,” says Michael Argenziano, MD, director of minimally invasive cardiac surgery and arrhythmia surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital. “And surgeons are responding to their patients’ demand. I don’t think that there’s a single surgical field that hasn’t tried some sort of minimally invasive approach.” While the term is pretty vague, “minimally invasive” – or endoscopic or “keyhole” surgery – generally means operations that are less traumatic than traditional surgery. By using special instruments, the approach can allow for smaller incisions, quicker recov
