[Current application of minimally invasive surgery for gastrointestinal diseases]

The advent of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) brought a major deviation in trend from conventional surgery. Since the introduction of first laparoscopic cholecystectomy in 1985, many operations for gastrointestinal diseases adopted MIS technique in a relatively short period of time. These MIS operations yielded better outcomes when compared to their open counterparts: less pain, shorter hospital stay, faster recovery, and better cosmetics. More complex surgical procedures for benign and malignant diseases of gastrointestinal tract are currently being performed by MIS technique with the improvement in equipment, instrumentation, and surgical skills. At the forefront of MIS, lies robotics. This paper briefly reviews the current status of MIS in the field of gastrointestinal diseases.