Minimally Invasive GI Surgery

At Mount Sinai, we use laparoscopic and robotic surgical techniques for a variety of GI cancers. These less invasive approaches require smaller incisions. As a result, patients lose less blood during surgery and have less pain, shorter recoveries and hospital stays, a lower risk of infection, and smaller scars.

Our skilled Mount Sinai surgeons frequently utilize a laparoscopic or robotic approach for removal of colon cancers and the affected colon. During this surgery, called a laparoscopic or robotic colectomy, a Mount Sinai surgeon makes small incisions in the lower abdomen to insert a tiny video camera and light. Next, using specially designed surgical tools, she or he separates the colon from the lining of the abdomen and brings it outside the body to examine it more thoroughly for signs of cancer and to remove affected tissue. Laparoscopic or robotic colectomy may not be suited for every colon cancer patient. Your Mount Sinai surgeon will help determine if a laparoscopic or robotic approach is right for you.

The GI cancer team at Mount Sinai also uses laparoscopic and robotic surgical approaches to remove tumors from other digestive tract organs. In fact, the Mount Sinai GI cancer team often uses laparoscopic surgery techniques to remove entire sections of the liver for patients with primary liver cancer as well as for patients whose cancer has spread to the liver.