Description

Single incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS) is an area of active research within general surgery. A number of advantages have been proposed including cosmesis, less incisional pain, and the ability to convert to standard multiport laparoscopic surgery if needed. The primary disadvantages of SILS are the restricted degrees of freedom of movement, the number of ports that can be used, and the proximity of the instruments to each other during the operation all of which increase the complexity and technical challenges of the operation. A number of methods have been described for port access to perform SILS, including multiple facial punctures through one skin incision, the use of additional transabdominal sutures to stabilize the target organ. We describe our method of establishing single-port access for SILS that has reduced some of the technical challenges in the performing SILS cholecystectomies. Our method involves the use of existing instrumentation. The objective of this study is to evaluate the safety and feasibility of the SILS cholecystectomy with conventional instrumentation as an standard technique with low costs.