Historical perspectives guide advances in equine minimally invasive soft tissue surgery.

Minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery in horses reduces anesthetic risk and recovery time while improving outcomes.

This review examines the evolution and current applications of minimally invasive soft tissue surgical techniques in equine medicine, with particular emphasis on laparoscopic procedures. The authors trace the historical development of endoscopic instrumentation spanning over a millennium, demonstrating how advances in human and small animal surgery have influenced veterinary practice. Current equine applications primarily focus on gastrointestinal and urogenital disease management, offering significant advantages including reduced anesthetic complications, improved surgical visualization, faster recovery times, and decreased economic losses to the equine industry. The paper highlights that thoracoscopic approaches remain underutilized, presenting opportunities for clinical expansion. Future directions include integration of emerging technologies such as natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES), near-infrared imaging for enhanced tissue perfusion and lymphatic visualization, and robotic-assisted surgical systems. The authors advocate for a One Health approach that synthesizes perspectives from human and small animal minimally invasive surgery to promote broader adoption and standardization of these techniques in large animal surgical practice.

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