[No conclusive evidence for replacing conventional laparoscopic cholecystectomy with newer operating techniques]

Single-insicion laparoscopic surgery (SILS) and natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) represent the latest development in minimally invasive surgery and are used in a wide variety of operations, e.g. cholecystectomies. The proposed benefits are less surgical trauma, reduced post-operative pain, smaller risk of infection and hence a shortened hospital stay compared with conventional laparoscopy. So far, no randomised study has uniformly shown clear advantages of SILS or NOTES that could justify an implementation of these techniques as acceptable alternatives to conventional laparoscopy.