Extracorporeal pneumoperitoneum access bubble for endoscopic surgery

Abstract

The extracorporeal pneumoperitoneum access bubble (EPAB) creates a transparent extension of the pneumoperitoneum and has been developed to facilitate large organ extraction and tissue approximation in patients undergoing endoscopic surgical procedures. When fully deployed, the EPAB excludes the abdominal parietes from the emergent organ and dilates the exit wound by an average of 48.5%, irrespective of its location. It thus eliminates the problems of contamination and tumor seedling implantation during the removal of resected organs, aside from expediting the extraction. The operating version of the EPAB enables the introduction of the surgeon's or assistant's hands or instruments into the bubble and thence into the peritoneal cavity without deflation of the pneumoperitoneum. By this means, it reduces the technical difficulties required to dissect organs and achieve reconstruction by hand suturing or stapling.