Single-Port Surgery in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Review of Current Evidence

The majority of patients with Crohn's disease and up to 35 % of patients with ulcerative colitis will ultimately require surgery during the course of their disease. Over the past few years, surgical techniques and experience in minimal invasive surgery have evolved resulting in single-incision laparoscopic surgery. The aim of this approach is to diminish the surgical trauma by reducing the number of incision sites. This review discusses the benefits and disadvantages of single-port surgery in various procedures in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Short-term postoperative results, functional outcome, and costs available in the literature will be discussed. Single-port surgery in IBD has several benefits when compared to multi-port laparoscopic surgery. By using fewer incisions, a potential reduction of postoperative pain with less morphine use can be accomplished. In addition, accelerated postoperative recovery can result in a shorter hospital stay. Furthermore, a superior cosmesis can be reached with placement of the port at the future ostomy site or at the umbilicus. Literature on single-port surgery in IBD consists mainly of case series and a few matched case series. These studies demonstrated that single-port surgery seems to be a safe and feasible approach for the surgical treatment of IBD patients.