One-handed knot tying technique in single-incision laparoscopic surgery

In an open surgery, two-handed as well as one-handed knot tying is commonplace. Knot tying in laparoscopic surgery traditionally involves the use of two instruments (for fashioning an intracorporeal knot) or passing of a ligature around a tubular structure, exteriorising it, fashioning a knot, and sliding it down with a knot-pusher (external slip knot). With increasing interest in expanding applications of single-incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS), surgeons are faced with new challenges. In SILS it is not usually possible to utilise two instruments for knot tying as they lie almost parallel. We describe a novel one-handed knot tying technique devised specifically for use in SILS.