Minimally invasive surgery in gynecologic oncology: A review of modalities and the literature

Minimally invasive surgery is one of the newest and most exciting areas of development in procedural medicine. This field shows tremendous potential to increase therapeutic benefit while minimizing some of the painful or dangerous side effects of surgical interventions. Minimally invasive surgery has strong historic ties to the field of gynecology and has come a long way as technology and techniques have improved. This has increasingly allowed the application of laparoscopy to more complex procedures and the treatment of gynecologic malignancies. Three laparoscopic approaches, traditional laparoscopy, robotic assisted laparoscopy and laparoendoscopic single-site surgery are reviewed here. We discuss the basic approaches to these three laparoscopic techniques, and then review their applications in gynecologic oncology. We also touch on the evidence behind outcomes associated with their use.