This procedure is beneficial to glimpse the interior of the human body using thin flexible instruments with an attached camera. Laparoscopy is a minimally invasive surgery, which is used to diagnose the extent of damage prior to proceeding with a major surgical procedure. During this procedure, the surgeon makes a small incision to insert plastic tubes though the incisions. This is followed by inserting the camera and the instruments to get a view of the interior area. These images are reflected on the screen, which eliminates the need to make larger incisions to get the view.

This type of procedure provides several advantages to the patients. Primarily, these procedures leave smaller scars and are less uncomfortable. Moreover, the patients do not have to spend numerous days for recovering from the surgical procedure. In addition, the internal scarring caused by these types of surgeries is lesser than the traditional surgeries.

Laparoscopy causes very little pain and patients take a shorter time to recovery from the surgical procedure. However, the patients may find some discomfort within their chests and shoulders because this type of minimally invasive surgery uses carbon dioxide to fill the abdominal region for an enhanced view. Nonetheless, this type of pain can be alleviated with normal pain killer medications. Most patients can resume their normal work routines after one week of undergoing this procedure.

New types of hand access devices or robotic devices are increasingly being used to perform these procedures. The hand access devices enable the surgeons to place their hands within the abdominal region, which has become useful for several pancreatic, biliary, and liver procedures. The robotic surgeries provide higher levels of precision and more visualization, which further reduces the size of the incision. This type of minimally invasive surgery is done without any direct contact between the patients and the surgeons. The robot’s hands have special equipment that sends the images to the screen, which is viewed by the surgeon. Technical developments are expected to provide fully automated surgeries in the near future.