Technology for minimal access surgery

One of the important changes in medical practice over the past two decades has been the reduction in traumatic insult inherent in surgical interventions. The new surgical and interventional approaches are usually referred to as minimally invasive. However, this terminology is inappropriate for two reasons. Firstly, it tarries connotations of increased safety, which is not the case, Secondly, it is semantically incorrect since to invade is absolute, and indeed such interventions are as invasive as open surgery in terms of reach of the various organs and tissues. The hallmark of the new approaches is the reduction in the trauma of access, Hence, a more appropriate generic term is minimal access therapy.(1)