Minimally Invasive Procedure
Minimally invasive surgical procedures avoid open invasive surgery in favor of closed or local surgery with less trauma. In this case, these procedures involve use of the da Vinci Robot, which provides highly-accurate remote-control manipulation of instruments with indirect observation of the surgical field through a tiny camera inserted into one of the small incisions required for the procedure. The term was coined by John EA Wickham in 1984, who wrote of it in British Medical Journal in 1987.
Minimally invasive surgery should result in less operative trauma for the patient, when compared an equivalent invasive procedure. Operative time may be longer, but hospitalization time is shorter. These procedures cause less pain and scarring, speed recovery and reduce the incidence of post-surgical complications.