New paradigms in minimally-invasive vascular surgery.

INTRODUCTION: Vascular surgery has been greatly evolved during the last decades and novel minimally invasive techniques have been introduced. Aim of this review is to briefly present all these advances and compare them with traditional repairs.

AREAS COVERED: The authors have extensively searched literature through the Pubmed and Embase databases. All articles published up to December 2021 referring to minimally invasive techniques used for treatment of peripheral artery disease, carotid disease, aortic aneurysms, and venous disease were evaluated. Minimally invasive techniques under investigation included endovascular and hybrid techniques, robot-assisted and laparoscopic approaches.

EXPERT OPINION: Several minimally invasive techniques such as endovascular and hybrid approaches have been extensively used during the last two decades to treat vascular surgery patients offering them lower mortality and morbidity risks. Novel robot-assisted techniques have shown promising results in preclinical studies although further clinical evaluation is needed.