[Surgical de-escalation for head and neck cancer surgery]. / Désescalade en chirurgie oncologique cervico-faciale.

Head and neck cancer surgery often has functional and aesthetic consequences. De-escalation surgery is a major concern for surgeons with a constant desire to develop surgical techniques with less invasive approaches and to preserve anatomical structures as much as possible. This was made possible by the appearance of minimally transoral and endonasal surgery as well as by the limitation of the surgical procedure by neoadjuvant treatments or by the limitation of surgical excision without compromising the oncological outcome and patient survival. This evolution continues with the arrival of new technologies such as virtual reality or artificial intelligence.

Gastric per-oral endoscopic myotomy: Current status and future directions.

Gastroparesis, or symptomatic delayed gastric emptying in the absence of mechanical obstruction, is a challenging and increasingly identified syndrome. Medical options are limited and the only medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of gastroparesis is metoclopramide, although other agents are frequently used off label. With this caveat, first-line treatments for gastroparesis include dietary modifications, antiemetics and promotility agents, although these therapies are limited by suboptimal efficacy and significant medication side effects. Treatment of patients that fail first-line treatments represents a significant therapeutic challenge. Recent advances in endoscopic techniques have led to the development of a promising novel endoscopic therapy for gastroparesis via endoscopic pyloromyotomy, also referred to as gastric per-oral endoscopic myotomy or per-oral endoscopic pyloromyotomy. The aim of this article is to review the technical aspects of the per-oral endoscopic myotomy procedure for the treatment of gastroparesis, provide an overview of the currently published literature, and outline potential next directions for the field.

The future of robotic surgery.

How robotics could help shape the future of surgical care.

What robot for tomorrow and what improvement can we expect?

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The purpose of this review is to summarize the status of robotic surgery currently, contextualizing the advances and improvements we can expect in the immediate future. Robotics continues to demonstrate increased utility and expansion in medicine, particularly surgery. When coupled with the imminent expiry of Intuitive patents in the next few years, it is timely to consider what we can expect to see from new platforms; what new features might we anticipate and what technology will be available to enhance and improve patient care. RECENT FINDINGS: There really are no limits with the anticipated developments in the field of medical robotics. Multiple large companies and academic institutions continue to invest in design and production with the release of a number of platforms already having occurred, whereas others are to come in the near future. The main anticipated advances will be haptic feedback, decreased cost, improved theatre assimilation with open consoles permitting free communication and lower theatre footprint. The robot patient interface is to be enhanced with single port platforms in production with a better interface including haptic feedback. The addition of NOTES and smarter flexible robotics is the next key area of interest, whereas the introduction of technology with image guidance and networking where large data sets or connectivity permit increased clinical acumen to enhance decision making. SUMMARY: We are at the cusp of a tipping point as the intellectual property for the first major robotic system in surgery comes to an end. It is likely to be a period of great opportunity with enhanced surgery and patient outcomes through significant innovation, multiple platforms nearing dissemination, with various technological advances. We anticipate this will yield a great period of innovation and diversity. Will we see a truly automated robot soon; the Smart Tissue Autonomous Robots are the limit.

Update in Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES).

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The recent developments and clinical applications of natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES)-procedures and technologies are going to be presented. RECENT FINDINGS: In experimental as well as clinical settings, NOTES-procedures are predominantly performed in hybrid technique. Current experimental studies focus on the implementation of new surgical approaches as well as on the training of procedures. One emphasis in the clinical application is transrectal and transanal interventions. Transanal total mesorectal excision is equivalent to laparoscopic procedures but with the benefit of an even less invasive access. Transvaginal cholecystectomy can achieve results that are comparable to surgeries that are performed with laparoscopic techniques alone. An analysis of the German NOTES-Register concerning appendectomies as well as the national performance of NOTES-interventions in Switzerland is presented. Apart from intraabdominal approaches, several centers proclaim transoral thyroidectomies and transoral mediastinoscopies. SUMMARY: NOTES-procedures are performed in animal experiments as well as in clinical setting although with less frequency. At this time, hybrid techniques using rigid instruments are mainly applied.

History, Evolution, and Continuing Innovations of Intracranial Aneurysm Surgery.

Evolution in the surgical treatment of intracranial aneurysms is driven by the need to refine and innovate. From an early application of the Hunterian carotid ligation to modern-day sophisticated aneurysm clip designs, progress has been made through dedication and technical maturation of cerebrovascular neurosurgeons to overcome challenges in their practices. The global expansion of endovascular services has challenged the existence of aneurysm surgery, changing the complexity of the aneurysm case mix and volume that are referred for surgical repair. Concepts of how to best treat intracranial aneurysms have evolved over generations and will continue to do so with further technological innovations. As with the evolution of any type of surgery, innovations frequently arise from the criticism of current techniques.

Management of early colonic neoplasia: where are we now and where are we heading?

INTRODUCTION: There have been considerable advances in the endoscopic treatment of colorectal neoplasia. The development of endoscopic submucosal dissection and full thickness resection techniques is changing the way benign disease and early cancers are managed. This article reviews the evidence behind these new techniques and discusses where this field is likely to move in the future. Areas covered: A PubMed literature review of resection techniques for colonic neoplasia was performed. The clinical and cost effectiveness of endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) is examined. The development of endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) and knife assisted resection is described and issues around training reviewed. Efficacy is compared to both EMR and transanal endoscopic microsurgery. The future is considered, including full thickness resection techniques and robotic endoscopy. Expert commentary: The perceived barriers to ESD are falling, and views that such techniques are only possible in Japan are disappearing. The key barriers to uptake will be training, and the development of educational programmes should be seen as a priority. The debate between TEMS and ESD will continue, but ESD is more flexible and cheaper. This will become less significant as the number of endoscopists trained in ESD grows and some TEMS surgeons may shift across towards ESD.

[A current perspective of natural orifices transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES)]. / Perspectiva actual de la cirugía endoscópica transluminal por orificios naturales (CETON).

Natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) represents an alternative in surgical approach, combined with the progress and experience gained from conventional and endoscopic surgery. Bibliographic research in PubMed, Medline database from 2000 to 2015 and analysis of the literature reviews found. NOTES provides vision and natural orifice approach, it has optimized operating times as well as reduced complications and better cosmetic results. Small series of patients have been reported, but there is not a valid clinical multicenter study by evidence-based medicine. NOTES can help to improve the standard operations, complemented with laparoscopic surgery rather than replace it and thus develop tools for the resolution of various diseases that require surgical treatment. This option in current surgery is safe and presents satisfactory results in the reported cases. The development of this new approach of performing surgical procedures requires further study and development of new technology in order to increase the accessibility of these procedures and represent in a practical and sustained way, a better option to approach surgical pathology.

Current and emerging robotic assisted intervention for Notes.

INTRODUCTION: Natural orifices transluminal endoscopic surgery (notes) procedures are limited by a number of factors including closure of the internal entry point, loss of triangulation, and unstable operative platform. Areas covered: In this paper, new technical developments in different aspects of robotic assisted NOTES interventions are reviewed. We further address new research opportunities for more widespread clinical acceptance of robotic assisted NOTES procedures. Expert commentary: The application of robotics in NOTES intervention is still in its infancy. The development of more compact, smart and intuitive robotic NOTES systems holds much promise for the future of NOTES application.

Transanal Endoscopic Microsurgery: Current and Future Perspectives.

Transanal endoscopic microsurgery is part of the colorectal surgeons' armamentarium for over 2 decades. Since its first implementation for the resection of benign and T1 malignant lesions in the rectum several new indications were developed and it carries additional promise for further extension in upcoming years. Herein we review the technique, its current indications, novel implications, and future perspectives.

The Evolution of "New Notes," Origins, and Future Directions.

The transformation of the submucosa into a working space provided a paradigm shift for endolumenal endoscopic intervention. The submucosal space can provide an undermining access to the removal of overlying mucosal disease. This space can also provide a protective mucosal barrier accommodating interventions into the deep layers of the gut wall and body cavities, such as the abdomen and mediastinum.

[Scarless surgery: a vision becoming reality?]. / Narbenfreie Chirurgie: Wird eine Vision Realität? Viszeralchirurgie über natürliche Körperöffnungen.

As minimal invasive abdominal surgery became established in the last decades, further minimization of the surgical access is in the focus now. Although laparoscopic instruments and camera systems become diminished in size there is still a need for a minilaparotomy for extraction and anastomosis of organs. NOTES (Natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery) aims to avoid this minilaparotomy. Consequently, laparoscopic-assisted procedures become pure laparoscopic surgery. The transvaginal access is the most common performed NOTES procedure. The acceptance in women is high. The feasibility of NOTES cholecystectomy is scientifically proofed. The procedure is associated with less pain than the common four-port laparoscopic surgery and does not interfere with the sexual well-being. There are no access-related infections; the abdominal wound infection and incisional hernia rate are low. In left sided colonic resection the transrectal access makes NOTES available for both genders.

Can 4-port laparoscopic cholecystectomy remain the gold standard for gallbladder surgery?

UNLABELLED: Since the first laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC), laparoscopic approach has been the focus of surgical authorities and continued its technical revolution. With increasing surgical experience, a trend toward even more minimally invasive approaches has led to laparoscopic surgery to new inovations. Current surgical procedures are: four ports (4PLC), still the gold standart technique, three ports (3PLC), two ports (2PLC) and single port laparoscopic cholecystectomy (SPLC). Robotic cholecystectomy (RC) and natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) are the other new techniques for performing cholecystectomy. This article aims to make an objective comparision between different types of laparoscopic cholecystectomies by using available medical literature. KEY WORDS: Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic, Technique.

Transoral surgery for laryngo-pharyngeal cancer - The paradigm shift of the head and cancer treatment.

Transoral surgery is a less invasive treatment that is becoming a major strategy in the treatment of laryngo-pharyngeal cancer. It is a minimally invasive approach that has no skin incision and limits the extent of tissue dissection, disruption of speech and swallowing muscles, blood loss, damage to major neurovascular structures, and injury to normal tissue. Transoral approaches to the laryngo-pharynx, except for early glottis cancer, had been limited traditionally to tumors that can be observed directly and manipulated with standard instrumentation and lighting. Since the 1990s, transoral laser microsurgery (TLM) has been used as an organ preservation strategy with good oncological control and good functional results, although it has not been widely used because of its technical difficulty. Recently, transoral robotic surgery (TORS) is becoming popular as a new treatment modality for laryngo-pharyngeal cancer, and surgical robots are used widely in the world since United States FDA approval in 2009. In spite of the global spread of TORS, it has not been approved by the Japan FDA, which has led to the development of other low-cost transoral surgical techniques in Japan. Transoral videolaryngoscopic surgery (TOVS) was developed as a new transoral surgery system for laryngo-pharyngeal lesions to address the problems of TLM. In TOVS, a rigid endoscope is used to visualize the surgical field instead of a microscope and the advantages of TOVS include the wide operative field and working space achieved using the distending laryngoscope and videolaryngoscope. Also, with the spread of narrow band imaging (NBI), endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) and endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD), which are widely used for superficial cancers in the gastrointestinal tract, have been applied for the superficial laryngo-pharyngeal cancer. Both EMR and ESD are performed mainly by gastroenterologists with a sharp dissector and magnifying endoscopy (ME)-NBI with minimal surgical margin. Endoscopic laryngo-pharyngeal surgery (ELPS) was developed to treat laryngo-pharyngeal superficial cancer by modifying the ESD procedure. The concept of ELPS is the same as that of ESD, however, the resection procedure is performed by a head and neck surgeon with both hands using a ME-NBI and rigid curved laryngo-pharyngoscope. These four procedures are low cost with similar oncological and functional outcomes to TORS. TORS may be less expensive than chemoradiotherapy, but the number of hospitals that can afford da Vinci surgical systems is limited. Even in the era of robotic surgery, these four procedures will be good options for laryngo-pharyngeal cancer.

Nationwide shift from microscopic to endoscopic transsphenoidal pituitary surgery.

PURPOSE: Transsphenoidal pituitary surgery can be carried out with either an operating microscope or with an endoscope, but the relative frequency of both techniques is unknown. METHODS: All microscopic and endoscopic transsphenoidal pituitary surgeries were extracted from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Part B data files between the years 2003 and 2013. National and state-level trends were compared over time. RESULTS: Endoscopic surgery significantly increased and microscopic surgery significantly decreased over the years 2003-2013. Thirty-eight of 48 states increased their use of endoscopic surgery, while 38 of 48 states decreased their use of microscopic surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Nationwide data show a clear trend for an increasing use of endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery at the expense of microscopic surgery. The underlying causes of these trends are unknown, but clearly deserve further investigation.