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Updated: Aug 24, 2026
Single-port Robotic Transanal Total Mesorectal Excision in a Porcine Model (Sus scrofa domesticus)
Published on: April 3, 2026
Robot-assisted minimally invasive Kasai portoenterostomy: a survival porcine study
A Lorincz1, C G Knight, S E Langenburg
1Department of Surgery, Wayne State University School of Medicine and Children's Hospital of Michigan, Children's Research Center of Michigan, Detroit, MI 48201, USA.
Background:
Major enhancements offered by robotic surgery for minimally invasive procedure include tremor filtration, motion scaling, and the addition of a wrist to the instrument. Minor enhancements include indexing as well as safe and rapid instrument exchange. A benefit associated with any endoscopic procedure is magnification. It was hypothesized that these enhancements would allow the performance of complex gastrointestinal surgery.
Methods:
Eight survival pigs (weight, 2.5-8 kg) underwent a robotically assisted minimally invasive portoenterostomy. The procedure was analogous to the Kasai portoenterostomy for biliary atresia usually performed for human patients at the age of 4 to 12 weeks.
Results:
Five of the eight animals survived for more than 1 month after the operation, returning to normal eating and bowel habits in 2 to 3 days. None were jaundiced. All laboratory values were normal. At 1 month, the animals were killed. There was no anastomotic stenosis at either the end-to-side enteroenterostomy or the portoenterostomy. Histologically, the anastomoses were well healed.
Conclusion:
Computer-assisted robot-enhanced technology allows complex gastrointestinal surgery to be performed using minimally invasive techniques.
