What it means
An invasive procedure goes into the body: surgery, IV and urinary catheters, endotracheal tubes, biopsies. Noninvasive tests stay outside, such as an ultrasound or a blood pressure cuff; minimally invasive surgery uses small cuts. Invasive cancer has grown beyond the layer where it started into the tissue around it. An invasive infection has spread into normally sterile parts of the body.
For the nurse
Every invasive device is a way in for germs. Use sterile technique to place it, check the site each shift, and ask each day whether it is still needed.
At a glance
| Spanish | invasivo |
|---|---|
| Also written | invasively |
Related terms
catheter
A thin, flexible tube put into the body to drain fluid out or to put fluid or drugs in.
metastasis
The spread of cancer cells from where the cancer started to other parts of the body.
sterile
Free of all living microorganisms; also, unable to have children.
surgical asepsis
Practices that keep an area or object completely free of microorganisms; also called sterile technique.