What does "invasive surgery" mean to you?

[Celeste]

Does it mean an incision of any type?
Does it mean a long incision vs. a short incision vs. holes for a laparascope?
Does it mean that tissue is touched underneath your skin?
Does it mean that tissue is altered in some way within your body?
Does it mean that tissues is removed without some sort of replacement?

I hear "invasive" and "non-invasive" used all over the forum and I really think it means different things to different people. I'm posting this because I'd like to encourage new people to really consider what is being said when a surgery is called "non-invasive".

[helenlegs 11]

If someone was cutting through my skin to operate, I would call it invasive.
I have had minimally invasive surgery though, a microdiscectomy 8 years ago. Even though that was removing most of a disc that was causing problems and I didn't need it to fully function, I would still class it as invasive.
Something like skin peels or lazer eye surgery would be my classification of non invasive.
Having recently watched Rr's surgery video. PN surgery is definitely invasive.
Cheers,
Helen

[Karyn]

I hear "invasive" and "non-invasive" used all over the forum and I really think it means different things to different people. I'm posting this because I'd like to encourage new people to really consider what is being said when a surgery is called "non-invasive".

What a truly fabulous post, Celeste! I often wondered the same thing, especially when I was considering surgical approaches. If you have to cut through skin and soft tissue, regardless of the surgical approach, my take is that ALL surgeries are invasive. What would be considered a "non-invasive" surgery? I've heard of less invasive and minimally invasive, but never non-invasive in regards to a surgical procedure.

[ezer]

I tend to look at it backward. Meaning invasive implying a long recovery time in months/years and non invasive in weeks. I know it is not scientific but it is how I tend to judge the "invasiveness" of a surgery.

[calluna]

Actually I think that is really sensible, ezer. I hadn't thought of looking at it that way.

For instance, laparoscopic surgery has a shorter recovery time than the equivalent surgery done with an open incision, and although the actual work being done internally might be exactly the same, I would term it less invasive.

[Lernica]

To me, "invasive" treatment is surgery, period. "Conservative" treatment is medicine and PT. In my view, there is such a thing as "non-invasive" surgery. But you can have "minimally invasive" surgery, a.k.a. laparoscopic surgery, where the incisions are small (i.e. 5 mm.) and the surgery is done under a microscope.

That's why I was confused when Griff said that her dorsal nerve decompression surgery was "non-invasive". Maybe she meant it was minimally invasive? I still don't know!

[Celeste]

I tend to look at it backward. Meaning invasive implying a long recovery time in months/years and non invasive in weeks. I know it is not scientific but it is how I tend to judge the "invasiveness" of a surgery.

That's interesting. So you might consider a knee replacement invasive, while an appendectomy would be non-invasive? I had never considered recovery time as part of the equation. For example, after a hip replacement, they want you to at least stand if not walk on the first day. After a hysterectomy, they want you immobile for the first 24 hours.

I think having kidney stones broken up using ultrasound is non-invasive. I think any surgery where they cut into your skin and go inside (ie invading your body) is invasive.

[Charlie]

This article on Wiki is helpful

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasivene ... procedures

[helenlegs 11]

If it is a normally quick recovery time and something goes wrong, say infection, to cause an increase in that reciovery time ? ?
Think it's got to be based on the procedure.
take care
Helen

[HerMajesty]

To me "invasive" means anything that breaks the body's natural boundaries (skin, mucous membrane). However an injection, for example, while invasive, is not an "invasive surgery", it is an "invasive procedure". To call it an "invasive surgery", something in there need to be rearranged in some way. So while there is less invasive and more invasive, and there is a procedure vs. a surgery, the vast majority of what we get done is invasive.
The noninvasive things PNer's do are PT and other forms of adjustment (chiro, D.O.), TENS, medication,etc - fairly short list.