The future of NOTES from the conservative point of view

Recently, the unfamiliar term "natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES)" appeared in my field. Actually, I am hesitant to accept this technique in my surgical practice. In this paper, I will review some references and try to establish my position toward NOTES. The author has been skeptical and ironical about the clinical potentiality of NOTES since hearing the presentation about NOTES for the first time. I have been concerned about making a puncture in the gastrointestinal tract as an old surgeon who believes that intestinal injury must not occur during surgery. However, recent advances in the research of NOTES are changing my stubborn belief. What I have to do is to avoid interrupting or disturbing young surgeons' challenges to develop NOTES. I remember that some senior surgeons were against us when we started laparoscopic surgery around 1990. Senior surgeons and physicians must be generous, considerate, helpful and supportive to our followers. I have been enthusiastic about the development and spread of laparoscopic surgery since 1987 and have been doing various surgical procedures myself, including those involving the biliary tract, pancreas, spleen, upper and lower gastrointestinal tract, adrenal, kidney and gynecologic organs. Recently, the unfamiliar term "NOTES" appeared in my field. Actually, I am hesitant to accept this technique in my surgical practice. In this paper I will review some references and try to establish my position toward NOTES.