Single port surgery in pediatric age: report of first 300 cases

In recent years, evolution of surgery has led to laparoscopy and then to single port surgery. In pediatric age, few papers have been published about single port procedures; in particular, no one has described the use of the Octoport device (Frankenman International Ltd., Suzhou, China). We present our experience using a new device.

A retrospective analysis of first 300 cases was performed collecting the data of all patients treated with Octoport device from October 2017 to September 2021. Epidemiological data, diagnosis, operative times, and complications were analyzed. Postoperative pain was compared with standard laparoscopy.

A total of 300 procedures were performed during the study period. The age range was 1-17 years. The conversion rate was 3.6% (11 patients) including both conversion to traditional laparoscopy and to laparotomy. Pain management was comparable to traditional laparoscopy. The complication rate was 3.6%, in one case leading to re-do surgery. All the cases in our Unit were successfully completed, with complications mainly related to the original pathology rather than to the technique itself.

The learning curve for Octoport use proved to be functional as for standard laparoscopy. In this study, surgical indications for the use of single port laparoscopy were defined, discerning favorable and unfavorable procedures. A proven superiority of this technique over traditional laparoscopy is yet to be defined, but Octoport has proved to be a safe and easy tool to reduce invasiveness of procedures in pediatric surgery with better cosmetic results.