Since 21st century, minimally invasive surgery has obtained revolutionary successes in more and more fields of conventional surgery and thus has become a global theme of the development of surgery. The advantages of it, comparing with traditional surgery, rest with that it can reduce surgical wound area greatly, avoid tissues of body to expose excessively and reduce the infections which caused by exposed tissues; and thus patients can recover faster with fewer hospitalization time and lower medical expenses. 

Some special minimally invasive surgical instruments are necessary for minimally invasive surgery. A decade ago, minimally invasive surgery was uncommon in Chinese medical community in that there was a lack of relevant minimally invasive surgical instruments. Minimally invasive device industry in China did not start until China's first minimally invasive surgical instruments company-- MicroPort Medical (Shanghai) Co.,Ltd.came into existence in 1998; moreover, the company has gradually developed a number of homemade minimally invasive surgical instruments with independent intellectual property rights. What the following text introduced is that some new homemade minimally invasive surgical instruments which were developed in recent years.

Automatic Endoscopic Suturing Device

In recent years, some Chinese Medical Device Company have been throwing themselves into the development of new-type minimally invasive surgical instruments with independent intellectual property rights, for example, not long ago, Reach Surgical ( Beijing ), Inc.  has successfully developed an “automatic endoscopic suturing device”. 

It is introduced that the automatic endoscopic suturing device can suture wound automatically and what doctors need to do are sitting before display screen and monitoring surgical procedures without suturing wounds personally, which will reduce errors caused by manual operation and thus ensure the quality of surgery and reduce the healing time of wounds (because of relatively small surgical incision); in addition, labor intensity of surgeon can be reduced greatly. Industry experts believe that the automatic endoscopic suturing device is expected to quickly occupy the Chinese market in the near future. 
 
Hanging-type Minimally Invasive Surgical Instrument

A new-type minimally invasive surgical device--hanging-type minimally invasive surgical instrument has been developed successfully by Hangzhou Optcla Medical Instrument Co., Ltd.. It is applicable for the treatments of various complex gynecologic surgeries such as induced abortion, hysterectomy, tubal ligation, tubal recanalization, ectopic pregnancy surgery, cervicitis surgery and so on.  Thanks to its simple structure and convenient operation, it can be adopted by township hospitals. 

Related experts said that the invention of hanging-type minimally invasive surgical instrument has filled the gap of minimally invasive surgical instruments in the field of obstetrics and gynecology in China, undoubtedly, it will benefit women patients.

Intervertebral Disc Surgical Instrument

Intervertebral disc herniation is a common disease with high incidence rate. Some patients suffer with great pain and have to rest on the bed due to frequent onset of the disease. Fortunately, a new-type minimally invasive surgical instrument for the treatment of the disease has been developed independently by Shandong Guanlong Medical Utensils Co., Ltd.

It is introduced that the operational principle of the surgical instrument can be described as follows: under the monitoring of an imaging system, surgeon carries out percutaneous centesis for patients with intervertebral disc herniation and the instrument can be delivered into intervertebral disc directly, and then it will drill a small hole on the annulus fibrosus so as to ensure the protein substance--nucleus gelatinosus in it can be sucked out. Finally, the pressure in the intervertebral disc can be reduced and cauda equine-related nerve compression will be eliminated, as a result, patients will recover and walk on the ground freely.    

A percutaneous disc surgery system, which was developed by foreign countries in recent years, is a new-type minimally invasive surgical instrument for the treatment of intervertebral disc. At present, Chinese medical enterprises can also develop similar products independently, which is truly not easy for them.  

Minimally Invasive Cosmetic Surgery Devices

With the improvement of living standards of urban and rural residents in China, the demand for cosmetic and plastic surgeries has significantly increased among people. Cosmetic industry has become a lucrative industry whose annual output value reached 100 billion yuan.  

After cosmetic surgery, ugly scar left on the face of patient means the surgery is unsuccessful, and thus a huge amount of compensation will be inevitable and the reputation of medical institute will be reduced too. Therefore, how to prevent the ugly scars after cosmetic surgery has become a major issue of cosmetic industry. Foreign media reported that, in Korea, surgeons can provide first-class cosmetic surgery, in fact, which relies heavily on advanced minimally invasive surgical instruments.

In recent years, Chinese medical enterprises have developed in succession a number of new-type special minimally invasive instruments for plastic (cosmetic) surgery. For example, by means of a very small incision on the skin of patient, "fiberscope" with advanced technical performance can carry out successfully various cosmetic surgeries such as facial wrinkles eliminating, collagen filling, augmentation rhinoplasty, breast augmentation and removing excess fat in the abdomen or buttocks etc. Moreover, some medical enterprises have also developed independently surgical suture needle and suture which are suitable for micro-plastic surgery. Thanks to this suture is too thin to be seen by naked eye, therefore, it can be used to suture some small blood vessels and the minor wounds of facial skin, which will prevent ugly scar after surgery.   

At present, although cosmetic industry has become one of the most profitable industries in the field of medical community, however, it is still at an early stage of development. "A handy tool makes a handy man", in the face of rapid development of cosmetic industry, china should speed up its development of advanced minimally invasive surgical instruments which are applicable for cosmetic industry.

Medical Laser

In other countries, medical laser has been classified into minimally invasive surgical instrument. At present, the annual sale of it in the international markets is as much as tens of billions of dollars. In fact, the China’s capability in developing medical laser does not lag behind much than foreign countries; especially, China has also made some important progress in the facet of application of surgical laser. Domestic ruby laser, for example, can successfully carry out various minimally invasive surgeries such as eliminating facial pigmentation, removing fine hairs on the human body, dental surgery, rectifying eye diopter and eliminating blood stasis etc. Nowadays, many hospitals in China have equipped with domestic medical laser such as CO2 laser scalpel and so on. 

It is worth noting that advanced minimally invasive surgical instruments have been included in the "Eleventh Five-Year" development planning of Ministry of Science & Technology of China. These surgical instruments include advanced minimally invasive surgical robot which involved in the "865" plan, endoscope (namely fiberscope) whose diameter is no more than 1mm, absorbable micro splint and bolt, and ultra-fine absorbable suture etc. It is predicted that the prospect for the development of new-type minimally invasive surgical instruments will be great and it will has a huge market space in the near future.