Laparoscopy Laparoscopy is a small operation to look inside your tummy (abdomen) and the area between your hips (pelvis). Laparoscopy is also known as keyhole surgery or minimally invasive surgery. It can help diagnose certain types of cancer. It is also a very common procedure used to treat and diagnose many other non cancerous conditions. A laparoscopy involves your surgeon making several small cuts (incisions) instead of a large incision across your abdomen. The surgeon places hollow tubes inside the incisions. These are called ports. Your surgeon puts a thin tube with a light and a camera (laparoscope) through one of the ports in your abdomen. Through another port the surgeon passes the tools they will use. There are several tools they might use and this will depend on what your surgeons sees. So for example they may use an ultrasound probe to look at the deeper layers of the tissue inside your abdomen or pelvis. Or they may use a tool to take samples (biopsies) of any abnormal areas in and around your abdomen and pelvis. You have the operation while you're asleep, so you have a general anesthetic . A laparoscopy can take from as little as half an hour to a couple of hours. You usually have a laparoscopy as a day case, so you can go home later the same day. Some laparoscopic operations use a robot. This is called robotic surgery or robotic assisted surgery. This is where the surgeon sits at a console and directs the robotic arms to perform the surgery. Below is a picture of robotic surgery for prostate cancer.