Transumbilical scarless surgery with thoracic trocar: easy and low-cost

Single-site laparoscopic surgery has become increasingly common. We herein report an easy and low-cost thoracic trocar technique (TTT) for these types of procedures and recommend the simpler name "transumbilical scarless surgery" (TUSS) to minimize confusion in nomenclature.

We retrospectively reviewed patients who underwent TUSS by TTT using a thoracic trocar and surgical glove in our hospital between November 2011 and November 2012. Operating time, postoperative stay, and complications were detailed.

A total of 101 TUSS by TTT were successfully performed, comprising appendectomy (n = 63), ovarian cyst excision (n = 7), splenectomy (n = 5), nephroureterectomy (n = 5), orchidopexy (n = 4), pyeloplasty (n = 3), nephrolithotomy (n = 2), orchiectomy (n = 2), varicocelectomy (n = 2), lymphangioma excision (n = 2), ureterectomy (n = 1), Morgagni diaphragmatic hernia repair (n = 1), ovarian detorsion (n = 1), antegrade continence enema (n = 1), intestinal resection anastomosis (n = 1), and intestinal duplication excision (n = 1). Kirschner wires were used for some organ traction. Nine patients required an additional port, but no major complications occurred. The postoperative stay (mean ± standard deviation) was 3.2 ± 1.4 days, and operating time was 58.9 ± 38.3 minutes.

We recommend the simpler name of TUSS to minimize confusion in nomenclature for all transumbilical single-incision laparoendoscopic surgeries. TTT is an easy and low-cost TUSS technique.