Modern concepts of minimally invasive surgery for uterine fibroids

  With the rapid development of society, the majority of women patients are not only satisfied with curing their diseases, but also have high requirements for the amount of trauma and pain caused by surgery, and the aesthetics of the wound. The concept of minimally invasive surgery is to maintain the optimal stability of the body’s internal environment or to minimize factors that interfere with the stability of the patient’s internal environment during medical intervention. Minimally invasive should be reflected in every aspect of the patient’s diagnosis and treatment, i.e., minimal tissue and organ damage, minimal inflammatory response, and optimal scar healing. In layman’s terms, it means small incision, less trauma, less bleeding, less pain, shorter operation time and faster recovery. Minimally invasive is a concept, a philosophy, a principle, not a surgical method, and it is reflected in every stitch and every move. There are three types of surgical approaches in gynecology: open (including small open incision), negative and endoscopic. All three surgical approaches or surgical methods can carry out the concept of minimally invasive.  With the continuous improvement of surgical instruments and equipment and the improvement and maturity of surgical techniques, laparoscopic surgery has become one of the most widely used, effective and promising “minimally invasive gynecologic” surgeries, in which uterine fibroids are removed through the operating hole and sutured under the lumpectomy to close the cavity.  The problems of minimally invasive surgery are: 1. The operation may take a little longer.  2. The lumpectomy suture technique is more demanding for the operator, and sometimes when the tumor cavity is relatively large, it may easily fail to close, and even hematoma and secondary infection may occur.  3. Bleeding may be increased compared with other surgical methods.  The vaginal surgery has a very important position in gynecological surgery and has many advantages over open and laparoscopic surgery: 1. Transvaginal surgery has the same characteristics of minimally invasive surgery as laparoscopy, and the surgical approach completely avoids the abdominal wall, even without a tiny incision in the abdomen.  2. The access and operation of the negative surgery are limited to the lowest part of the pelvic cavity, and there is no need to dissect the intestinal canal and the greater omentum to expose the myoma. Therefore, there is almost no interference with other organs of the abdominal cavity.  The operation is easy and quick, and the whole procedure is operated under direct vision at close range. The suture effect is better than the lumpectomy suture, and it is not easy to have problems such as hematoma.  4.Because of the small trauma, small disturbance to the abdominal cavity and short operation time, the postoperative recovery is fast and the postoperative disease rate is low. Most patients can exhaust and eat in less than 24h after surgery.  For open (small incision) surgery is also one of the minimally invasive surgical methods. For some without sexual history, with larger and more fibroids or positioned between broad ligaments, this surgical method can also be considered, because this method also fully penetrates the minimally invasive concept and avoids some common complications of some laparoscopic or negative surgeries.