The Use of Audio in Minimal Access Surgery

In minimal access surgery (MAS) (also known as minimally invasive surgery), operations are carried out by making small incisions in the skin and inserting special apparatus into potential body cavities through those incisions. Laparoscopic MAS procedures are conducted in the patient's abdomen. The aim of MAS is faster recovery, shorter hospitalisation and fewer major post-operative complications; all resulting in lower societal cost with better patient acceptability. The technique is markedly dependent on supporting technologies for vision, instrumentation, energy delivery, anaesthesia, and monitoring. However, in practice, much MAS continues to take longer and be associated with an undesirable frequency of unwanted minor (or occasionally major) mishaps. Many of these difficulties result precisely from the complexity and mal-adaptation of the additional technology and from lack of familiarity with it. A survey of South East England surgeons showed the two main stress factors on ...