Such failure rates explain why many medical device companies are working on less invasive alternatives to total disk replacement.

However, as always, when safer or less invasive alternatives are available, they should be used first.

This procedure is usually done during open heart surgery, but some medical centers are now offering a minimally invasive alternative.

It is a minimally invasive alternative to total hip replacement that preserves the top of the femur with a metal ball.

RU-486, which is effective up to 63 days after gestation, is generally considered a less invasive alternative than surgery.

All of the devices are seen as less invasive alternatives for treating obesity than gastric bypass surgery, the most common treatment today.

There is now considerable emphasis on minimally invasive alternatives to surgery.

And they are sometimes not as open as they might be to less invasive alternatives to surgery.

The procedure is a minimally invasive alternative to surgery.

Interventional cardiology now offers patients minimally invasive alternatives to surgery for some patients.