Improving Patient Care & Safety: Innovations For Minimally Invasive Surgery

No one really looks forward to surgery.  However, it doesn’t have to be as painful and take as long to recover as you might think. Dr. Archana Ramaswamy, Staff Surgeon at Minneapolis VA Hospital and Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Minnesota, joins us to discuss Minimally Invasive Surgery – also known as laparoscopic or endoscopic surgery. There are three main techniques: Laparoscopy (which is done through one or more small incisions, using small tubes and tiny video cameras and surgical instruments), Endoscopic or natural orifice procedures (which use cameras and instruments via the mouth, rectum or vagina), and Robotic (in which surgery is magnified and gives your doctor a 3-D view of the surgical site).  The benefits of Minimally Invasive Surgery include shorter hospital stays, decreased pain, a quicker patient recovery and it’s less costly than traditional surgery. It can be used in a variety of different surgeries.