Minimally Invasive Surgery or Traditional Surgery “If you dislocate your kneecap again, I’m afraid that you will have to have surgery,” Dr. Crockett told me. I knew it was a possibility that I would have to have surgery seeing that my sister had already gone through something very similar and had surgery, but it still rattled me. After that day, I began to think about knee surgeries and how they would affect me. Along with my sister, some of my friends have also had knee surgeries. A new question popped into my head, why did some people have giant scars and some small from the same surgery. I knew that there was a new type of surgery developing where the doctor minimized the incision for the surgery. I also knew there had to be different instruments …show more content…
For example, a traditional knee replacement requires a 6- to 12-inch-long incision, while MIS is performed with only a 4- to 5-inch incision,” (“Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS)”). After finding the correct name, I changed my keywords to MIS and Minimally Invasive Surgery and hundreds of sources pertaining to my research question filled my page. I found a few more sources that helped clear up the definition of MIS. “By definition, a minimally invasive procedure is any procedure that is less invasive than open surgery and used for the same purpose,” (“Minimally Invasive …show more content…
One source stated, “No difference in complications and some patients may experience less pain,” (“Mini-Incision Knee Replacement”). My other sources confirmed that the pain factor is usually either the same or less than traditional surgery. This did not come as much of a surprise to me because I expected with a smaller invasive site that there would be less pain. I still needed confirmation though because I also thought it could have been a possibility that entering through a smaller hole could create more discomfort from the maneuvering of the tools, this, however, is not the case. Next, I looked into the recovery times of minimally invasive surgery compared to traditional. One article sums up this in just a few words, “MIS includes a quicker return to normal activities and less tissue damage than with traditional surgery’s,” (“What is Minimally Invasive Surgery”). This again was the expected result considering that they do not have to cut as much tissue to work. I wondered why minimally invasive surgery was not always used because it seems to be just a straight upgrade from traditional. I started dug to look for some