ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Bile duct injury is a rare but serious complication of laparoscopic cholecystectomy and the primary cause is misinterpretation of biliary anatomy. This may occur more frequently with a single-incision approach due to difficulties in exposing and visualizing the triangle of Calot. Intraoperative cholangiography was proposed to overcome this problem, but due to multiple issues, it is not used routinely. Indocyanine green (ICG) near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent cholangiography is non invasive and provides real-time biliary images during surgery, which may improve the safety of single-incision cholecystectomy. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of this technique during single-site robotic cholecystectomy (SSRC). METHODS: Patients presenting with symptomatic biliary gallstones without suspicion of common bile duct stones underwent SSRC with ICG-NIR fluorescent cholangiography using the da Vinci Fluorescence Imaging Vision System. During patient preparation, 2.5 mg of ICG was injected intravenously. During surgery, the biliary anatomy was imaged in real time, which guided dissection of Calot's triangle. Perioperative outcomes included biliary tree visualizations, operative time, conversion and complications rates, and length of hospital stay. RESULTS: There were 45 cases between July 2011 and January 2012. All procedures were completed successfully; there were no conversions and at least one structure was visualized in each patient. The rates of visualization were 93 % for the cystic duct, 88 % for the common hepatic duct, and 91 % for the common bile duct prior to Calot's dissection; after Calot's dissection, the rates were 97 % for all three ducts. Mean hospital stay was 1.1 days and there were no bile duct injuries or any other major complications. CONCLUSION: Real-time high-resolution fluorescent imaging to identify the biliary tree anatomy during SSRC using the da Vinci Fluorescence Imaging Vision System was safe and effective.
Subject(s)
Cholangiography/methods , Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic/methods , Gallstones/surgery , Robotics/methods , Adult , Aged , Cholangiography/instrumentation , Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic/instrumentation , Coloring Agents , Equipment Design , Female , Fluorescence , Fluoroscopy/instrumentation , Fluoroscopy/methods , Humans , Indocyanine Green , Intraoperative Care/instrumentation , Intraoperative Care/methods , Male , Middle Aged , Prospective Studies , Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared , Young AdultABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Single-incision laparoscopic surgery is an emerging procedure developed to decrease parietal trauma and improve cosmetic results. However, many technical constraints, such as lack of triangulation, instrument collisions, and cross-handing, hamper this approach. Using a robotic platform may overcome these problems and enable more precise surgical actions by increasing freedom of movement and by restoring intuitive instrument control. METHODS: We retrospectively collected, under institutional review board approval, data on the first 25 patients who underwent single-site robotic cholecystectomies (SSRC) at our center. Patients enrolled in this study underwent SSRC for symptomatic biliary gallstones or polyposis. Exclusion criteria were: BMI > 33; acute cholecystitis; previous upper abdominal surgery; ASA > II; and age >80 and <18 years. All procedures were performed with the da Vinci Si Surgical System and a dedicated SSRC kit (Intuitive). After discharge, patients were followed for 2 months. These SSRC cases were compared to our first 25 single-incision laparoscopic cholecystectomies (SILC) and with the literature. RESULTS: There were no differences in patient characteristics between groups (gender, P = 0.4404; age, P = 0.7423; BMI, P = 0.5699), and there were no conversions or major complications in either cohort. Operative time was significantly longer for the SILC group compared with SSRC (83.2 vs. 62.7 min, P = 0.0006), and SSRC operative times did not change significantly along the series. The majority of patients in each group were discharged within 24 h, with an average length of hospital stay of 1.2 days for the SILC group and 1.1 days for the SSRC group (P = 0.2854). No wound complications (infection, incisional hernia) were observed in the SSRC group and in the SILC. CONCLUSIONS: Our preliminary experience shows that SSRC is safe, can easily be learned, and performed in a reproducible manner and is faster than SILC.
