Minimally Invasive Surgery

Conventionally, all surgeries are performed by open technique. As per open technique, the surgeon exposes the anatomy to be operated by incision. This means that if the surgeon wants to operate on the Gall Bladder of a patient, he/she makes a big incision in the patients abdomen, exposes all the viscera and then performs the desired surgery. The exposing of the affected as well as normal organs invites hoards of micro-organisms, even in a sterile Operation theatre, making the wound vulnerable to infection. Besides, this technique also implies heavy blood loss and long, painful stay for the patient at hospital untill the wound heals. This in turn means that the surgery is expensive for patients as well as the medical fraternity. For the patient because of the complications mentioned above and for the medical fraternity because this means low turnover of patients.

To combat these obvious drawbacks of open technique, a new technique was developed in the nineteenth century that enables the surgeon to access the anatomy-of-interest by making small holes in the vicinity of affected site, viewing the affected organ through one of the holes and operating through the others. Though diagnostic endoscopy began that early, operative endoscopy finds its birth in the early part of twentieth century. The usage of video imaging has come in as late as 1985. But, of late, the technique is gaining importance and acceptance at rapid pace because of its obvious advantages over the open technique. More and more surgeons are opting for MIS wherever possible. Endosys has been at the forefront of Endoscopy in general and Arthroscopy in particular.

Endoscopy is a very general term. It is visualising the insides of the body. Under the head Endoscopy, there are different types of Scopy such as Laparoscopy, Hysteroscopy, Arthroscopy, Sinuscopy, etc. that are in relation to specific organs/parts of the body where they are performed. Laparoscopy is the MIS of abdomen while Hysteroscopy is the MIS of Uterus & Arthroscopy is the MIS of joints. It should be appreciated that though Endoscopy of different organs of the body has different names, it still is Endoscopy. Hence, the basic system for diagnostic studies still remains the same. This basic diagnostic system is covered in the following unit. But Endoscopy is seldom done only for diagnosis. It is, most of the times, done for operating purposes and the surgical instrumentation involved is different for each of the organs.