Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is a surgical modality that employs specialized instruments and small incisions to perform surgical procedures while minimizing tissue damage. This method has been a standard of practice in human medicine for many years and is gaining popularity in veterinary medicine.
Pets receiving MIS benefit from reduced post-operative pain, faster recovery times, shorter hospital stays, and a lower risk of complications. This article will delve into five specific benefits of MIS for pets: smaller incisions, reduced post-operative pain, quicker return to normal activities, shorter hospital stays, and a decreased risk of infection.
MIS for Pets: 5 Advantages to Consider
Outlined below are the top five benefits of utilizing MIS for your pet following a dog checkup.
Small Incisions for Your Pet’s Surgery
MIS allows veterinary surgeons to access your pet’s internal body cavities and organs without making large incisions. For instance, a conventional surgeon performing abdominal dog surgery must create a sizable incision to have a clear view of the surgical field, insert their hands into the body cavity, and manipulate the required structures.
In contrast, MIS employs tiny cameras and surgical instruments inserted through small incisions to locate organs, cut tissues, and ligate vessels. This approach reduces surgical incisions up to 12 inches long to just a few millimeters in length. Although the entire surgical area must be shaved to create a sterile field, fewer sutures are needed to close the small incisions.
Blood Loss Reduction for Your Pet
The risk of surgical complications, such as hypotension and hypothermia, is increased by excessive blood loss, which veterinary surgeons avoid whenever possible. They employ precise techniques to minimize blood loss during surgery from places like the Long Beach animal hospital, such as strategically planning the incision’s location and ligating or cauterizing small blood vessels. Reducing your pet’s incision makes avoiding major blood vessels and preventing blood loss easier, although blood loss is unavoidable when a large surgical incision is required.
Less Pain for Your Pet
Surgery is typically associated with pain, but MIS technology can minimize the pain your pet experiences. Smaller incisions reduce overall pain during and after surgery. When a large incision is necessary to access a body cavity, the skin, muscles, and nerves are severed, causing pain. Even though your pet is sedated during the procedure and not in pain, its body can still respond to the stimulus.
Additional medication may be required to keep your pet adequately sedated. Analgesics also make your pet’s recovery as comfortable as possible. Significantly less pain is caused by the incisions made during MIS, enabling surgeons to access the thoracic cavity through a small incision between the ribs instead of the painful and lengthy procedure of cutting through the sternum.
When MIS is used, pets require less pain medication and can return to normal activities, such as eating and interacting with their families, more quickly. Additionally, fewer sutures are needed to close the incision, reducing discomfort and itchiness.
Reduced Hospitalization Time
We understand that you want your pet to return home as soon as possible, and using MIS can help achieve this goal. Since there are no lengthy incisions to suture, surgical times are frequently reduced. Less time under anesthesia will likely result in a quicker recovery for your pet. Less pain, bleeding, and inflammation also reduce hospital stays. Overall, MIS is a valuable modality that offers numerous benefits to pets, including reduced pain, faster recovery times, and a lower risk of complications.
Reduced Recovery Time
Smaller incisions mean less tissue damage and less pain for your pet. When MIS is utilized, your pet requires less pain medication and can return to normal activities, such as eating and interacting with their families, more quickly. For example, when surgeons use MIS to access the thoracic cavity, they can use a small incision between the ribs instead of cutting through the sternum, which is painful and takes longer to heal.