Minimally invasive surgery is an option for some, but not most, ovarian cancer patients.
- Robotic surgery, a type of minimally invasive surgery, involves a series of small incisions.
- Robotic surgery minimizes blood loss and speeds up recovery time.
- Sometimes ovarian cancer surgery can be done robotically. However, robotic surgery is not for most patients.
Unfortunately, "robotic surgery is not an option for every woman with ovarian cancer," says Dr. Lori Weinberg, gynecologic oncologist with Minnesota Oncology. "Most patients with ovarian cancer have disease that is spread out in multiple places, where the robotic platform just cannot achieve what we can do through an open incision. We really have to tailor our approach to treatment based on what we’re seeing from the imaging, and also on a patient's physical exam."
Read More“It's nice when we can use robotic surgery, but the traditional approach of an open incision surgery is usually what we fall back on, because for most patients it's the best way to treat their disease,” Weinberg says. "But when and if the situation is right, robotic surgery is a nice tool to have."
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