Minimal invasive surgery
Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS, in german: MIC) is a new kind of surgery which gets more and more common nowadays. Another well-known expression is 'endoscopic surgery'. With this method, a surgical operation is performed by the help of: A small endoscopic camera several long, thin, rigid instruments through natural body openings or small artificial incisions ('keyhole surgery').

In comparison to the usual, open surgery, there exist several advantages for the patient: less pain, less strain of the organism faster recovery small injuries (aesthetic reasons) economic gain (shorter illness time)

    A minimally invasive procedure is any procedure (surgical or otherwise) that is less invasive than open surgery used for the same purpose. A minimally invasive procedure typically involves use of laparoscopic devices and remote-control manipulation of instruments with indirect observation of the surgical field through an endoscope or similar device, and are carried out through the skin or through a body cavity or anatomical opening. This may result in shorter hospital stays, or allow outpatient treatment. However, the safety and effectiveness of each procedure must be demonstrated with randomized controlled trials. The term was coined by John EA Wickham in 1984, who wrote of it in British Medical Journal in 1987.
A minimally invasive procedure is distinct from a non-invasive procedure such as external imaging instead of exploratory surgery.

Specific procedures
    Many medical procedures are called minimally invasive, such as hypodermic injection, air-pressure injection, subdermal implants, endoscopy, percutaneous surgery, laparoscopic surgery, arthroscopic surgery, cryosurgery, microsurgery, keyhole surgery, endovascular surgery (such as angioplasty), coronary catheterization, permanent spinal and brain electrodes, stereotactic surgery, The Nuss Procedure, radioactivity-based medical imaging methods, such as gamma camera, Positron emission tomography and SPECT (single photon emission tomography). Related procedures are image-guided surgery, robotic surgery and interventional radiology