• Strategy of targeted biopsies alone at pre-biopsy MRI-suspicious areas is an attractive potential alternative to extended systematic biopsies for detection of significant prostate cancer. •Further studies are necessary to validate the strategy of targeted biopsies alone.
The initial experience with E-NOTES donor nephrectomy is encouraging. Excellent donor vascular and tissue dissection could be performed, and a quality donor kidney was retrieved transumbilically without any extra-umbilical skin incision. E-NOTES donor nephrectomy appears to have relevance and promise, especially for this typically younger, altruistic population. Natural orifices present an unprecedented opportunity for scar-free surgery.
OBJECTIVE
To describe our initial clinical experience of robotic single‐port (RSP) surgery.
PATIENTS AND METHODS
The da Vinci® S robot (Intuitive, Sunnyvale, CA, USA) was used to perform radical prostatectomy (RP), dismembered pyeloplasty, and radical nephrectomy. A robot 12‐mm scope and 5‐mm robotic grasper were introduced through a multichannel single port (R‐port, Advanced Surgical Concepts, Dublin, Ireland). An additional 5‐mm or 8‐mm robotic port was introduced through the same umbilical incision (2 cm) alongside the multichannel port and used to introduce robotic instruments. Vesico‐urethral anastomosis and pelvi‐ureteric anastomosis were successfully performed robotically using running intracorporeal suturing.
RESULTS
All three RSP surgeries were performed through the single incision without adding extra umbilical ports or 2‐mm instruments. For RP, the operative duration was 5 h and the estimated blood loss was 250 mL. The hospital stay was 36 h and the margins of resection were negative. For pyeloplasty, the operative duration was 4.5 h, and the hospital stay was 50 h. Right radical nephrectomy for a 5.5‐cm renal cell carcinoma was performed in 2.5 h and the hospital stay was 48 h. The specimen was extracted intact within an entrapment bag through the umbilical incision. There were no intraoperative or postoperative complications. At 1 week after surgery, all patients had minimal pain with a visual analogue score of 0/10.
CONCLUSIONS
Technical challenges of single‐port surgery that may limit its widespread acceptance can be addressed by using robotic technology. Articulation of robotic instruments may render obsolete the long‐held laparoscopic principles of triangulation especially for intracorporeal suturing. We report the initial series of robotic surgery through a single transumbilical incision.
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