[Single port access surgery in colorectal disease: preliminary results]

The aim of this study is to evaluate the single port access technique in colorectal disease, as regards its suitability to oncological criteria, reliability, safety and reproducibility of the technique. A descriptive and prospective case study is performed describing the preliminary results of our series.

We present a series of 24 patients with colorectal disease who underwent single port access surgery using a Gel point® device between June and December 2010. The operations performed were, 9 right hemicolectomies, 9 sigmoid resections, 4 high anterior resections, 1 left hemicolectomy due to a tumour of the splenic flexure, and 1 sub-total colectomy.

The mean surgical time for the right colon was 82.8 minutes (range 40-170), 122.1 minutes (range 75-200) for the left colon and rectum, and 270 minutes for the sub-total colectomy. The median number of ganglia resected was 22 (range: 3-27) for the right colon and 21 (range: 11-28) left colon/rectum. The mean length of the surgical specimen was 20.37 cm (range: 16.2 - 27.5) for the right colon, and 24.92 cm (range: 14.5 - 31) for the left colon/rectum. The median overall hospital stay was 6 days (range: 5-13). Morbidity was 8.3% (2 patients); one with an occlusion due to adhesions, and another with a leak in the anastomosis. There were no deaths.

The single port access technique is safe and reproducible, maintaining oncological criteria, for surgeons accustomed to colorectal surgery by conventional laparoscopy. A larger number of cases would be required to standardise the technique.