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Innovations in Endosurgery—Journey into the Past of the Future

To Ride the SILS Bandwagon or Not?

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Abstract

Progress in surgical practice has paralleled the civilizational evolution. Surgery has progressed from being the last resort in saving life to being form and function preserver. Post-renaissance Industrial age gave an impetus to this march of surgery. The currently on going digital technological revolution has further catalysed this march. Having achieved the stabilized and acceptable clinical outcomes, the surgeon has embarked on a journey of improving patient reported outcomes (PRO). Improvement in PROs with the advent of laparoscopic surgery with the attendant emphasis on minimising invasion has led to debates about invasion being just parietal or holistic in physiological sense. There is a concern that parietal invasiveness shouldn’t be a trade-off for compromised clinical outcomes. Single Incision Laparoscopic Surgery (SILS) in its current avatar with current instrumentation seems to be an enthusiastic bandwagon rolling on with the cosmetic benefits acting as veil to hide the potential clinical concerns. History of surgical innovations is riddled with tales of vindictiveness and vicissitude. Lest the same fate befalls SILS we would do better to examine the SILS bandwagon in its current form till the emerging technologies address the current concerns.

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Acknowledgement

We are grateful to Ms Ramneek Kaur, Krishna Adit and Nayan Agarwal for their valuable help in documentation and preparation of manuscript.

Disclosures

The authors have taken SILS as representing a truly single Incision Laparoscopic Surgery and not the usually practiced ‘Reduced Port Surgery’ (RPS) that is erroneously confused with SILS by some. Scientifically even a single trans-parietal suture puncture negates the concept of SILS. The authors practice RPS by routinely using a single 10 mm umbilical port supported by two or three 2.7 mm to 3.5 mm working ports for laparoscopic cholecystectomies etc.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General Surgery, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, 110060, India

    Brij B. Agarwal, Kamran Ali, Karan Goyal & Krishan C. Mahajan

  2. Vardhman Mahavir Medical College Safdarjang hospital, New Delhi, India

    Chintamani

  3. Ganga Ram Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education & Research, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, India

    Krishan C. Mahajan

  4. Dr. Agarwal’s Surgery & Yoga, F-81&F-82, Street 4, Virender Nagar, Janakpuri, New Delhi, India

    Brij B. Agarwal

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  1. Brij B. Agarwal
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Correspondence to Brij B. Agarwal.

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Agarwal, B.B., Chintamani, Ali, K. et al. Innovations in Endosurgery—Journey into the Past of the Future. Indian J Surg 74, 234–241 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12262-012-0583-8

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