Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 May 23:10:1193486.
doi: 10.3389/fsurg.2023.1193486. eCollection 2023.

Innovation in gastrointestinal surgery: the evolution of minimally invasive surgery-a narrative review

Josephine Walshaw  1 , Bright Huo  2 , Adam McClean  3 , Samantha Gajos  4 , Jing Yi Kwan  3   5 , James Tomlinson  6 , Chandra Shekhar Biyani  5 , Safaa Dimashki  3 , Ian Chetter  1 , Marina Yiasemidou  7   8
Affiliations
Review

Innovation in gastrointestinal surgery: the evolution of minimally invasive surgery-a narrative review

Josephine Walshaw et al. Front Surg. .

Abstract

Background: Minimally invasive (MI) surgery has revolutionised surgery, becoming the standard of care in many countries around the globe. Observed benefits over traditional open surgery include reduced pain, shorter hospital stay, and decreased recovery time. Gastrointestinal surgery in particular was an early adaptor to both laparoscopic and robotic surgery. Within this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the evolution of minimally invasive gastrointestinal surgery and a critical outlook on the evidence surrounding its effectiveness and safety.

Methods: A literature review was conducted to identify relevant articles for the topic of this review. The literature search was performed using Medical Subject Heading terms on PubMed. The methodology for evidence synthesis was in line with the four steps for narrative reviews outlined in current literature. The key words used were minimally invasive, robotic, laparoscopic colorectal, colon, rectal surgery.

Conclusion: The introduction of minimally surgery has revolutionised patient care. Despite the evidence supporting this technique in gastrointestinal surgery, several controversies remain. Here we discuss some of them; the lack of high level evidence regarding the oncological outcomes of TaTME and lack of supporting evidence for robotic colorectalrectal surgery and upper GI surgery. These controversies open pathways for future research opportunities with RCTs focusing on comparing robotic to laparoscopic with different primary outcomes including ergonomics and surgeon comfort.

Keywords: colorectal (colon) cancer; laparoscopic; minimally invasive; rectal cancer; robotic.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

References

    1. Jayne DG, Guillou PJ, Thorpe H, Quirke P, Copeland J, Smith AM, et al. Randomized trial of laparoscopic-assisted resection of colorectal carcinoma: 3-year results of the UK MRC CLASICC trial group. J Clin Oncol. (2007) 25(21):3061–8. 10.1200/JCO.2006.09.7758 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Demiris G, Oliver DP, Washington KT. Defining and analyzing the problem. Amsterdam: Academic Press; (2019).
    1. RDe. Minimal access medicine and surgery. Oxford: Radcliffe Medical Press; (1993).
    1. CT F. Minimal access medicine and surgery. St. Louis: Mosby; (1995).
    1. Lau WY, Leow CK, Li AK. History of endoscopic and laparoscopic surgery. World J Surg. (1997) 21(4):444–53. 10.1007/PL00012268 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources