Single-port technique evolution and current practice in urologic procedures

Abstract

Different groups described the single-port surgery since its first report in laparoscopic procedures. However, the acceptance of this technique among urologists, even after the robotic approach, was reduced in the past years. Therefore, to overcome the challenges related to the single-port surgery, a new robotic platform named da Vinci SP was created with exclusive single port technology. We performed a non-systematic literature review regarding the single port technique in urologic surgeries since the first laparoscopic report until the da Vinci SP robotic platform. Three different periods were described (laparoscopy, robotic, and da Vinci SP), and we focused in our experience with this new single port robot. We selected different articles and summarized the information regarding the use of single-site surgery in laparoscopic procedures and the challenges of this approach. We also reported the experience of different groups using the single port robotic technique and some recent reports of the da Vinci SP approach. In our experience with this new console, we described some critical points related to our radical prostatectomy technique and the lessons learned during the introduction of this novel platform. Previous single-site procedures described some common challenges that limited the technique expansion. However, our experience with the da Vinci SP described feasible and safe procedures with acceptable intraoperative outcomes. The introduction of this platform is recent in the market, and the literature still lacks a high level of evidence describing the long-term outcomes of this new technology.

Keywords: Robotic surgery; Single-port surgery; da Vinci SP.