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L A P A R O S C O P I C
S U R G E R Y
L
aparoscopic surgery depends on access. Trocars and ports serve
as conduits for cameras; grasping, dissecting, cutting and sealing
instruments; mesh positioners; staplers and a host of other
devices reaching in to treat the otherwise untouchable surgical site in
the abdominal cavity.
The narrower instruments and smaller incision sizes that support
minimally invasive surgery shrink the necessary diameter of these
access ports and, consequently, their impact on surgical patients' tissue, a benefit which sparked the concept of single-incision
laparoscopy, in which one
port does the job.
But as surgical techniques
and surgical access have
miniaturized, a single port
now has to play many roles. Simply delivering access isn't enough:
Ports must offer other functional advantages as well, as surgical innovators and medical device manufacturers have recently realized. For
example, one access device manufacturer also offers a way to ensure
predictable incision closing outcomes.
When is a port not a port? When it's actually 3 or more ports. Or
when it's also an insufflation device. Or when it's part of a multi-tasking laparoscopic management system.
Among the recent developments to hit the access market:
• a reusable trocar, designed to be as easy to take apart and clean as it
is easy on your supply budget;
• a multiple-port access device that's been reduced in size but doesn't
reduce instrument articulation;
As surgical techniques
have miniaturized, one
port now has to play
many roles. Delivering
access isn't enough.
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O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | S E P T E M B E R 2013
