Relying upon daVinci surgical robots, cancer surgeons have now begun a minimally invasive approach for thyroidectomies.  Instead of making an incision in the neck, they go in through the patient’s armpit to remove a cancerous thyroid.  For some time, they have been using the robot for prostate, kidney, urethral, and gynecologic tumors, and expect to do the same for lung, stomach and colorectal cancers soon.  The advantages of this (and other) minimally invasive techniques are less blood loss, smaller scars, less pain and quicker recovery.  MORE

Image Credit:  Intuitive Surgical