Effects of wide-angle laparoscopy on surgical workflow in laparoscopic cholecystectomies

Laparoscopy is now the gold standard approach to many surgical procedures thanks to its many advantages. Minimizing distractions is essential to a safe and successful surgery and an undisrupted surgical workflow. The SurroundScope, a wide angle (270°) laparoscopic camera system has the potential to decrease surgical distractions and increase workflow.

Forty-two laparoscopic cholecystectomies were performed by a single surgeon, 21 with the SurroundScope and 21 with standard angle laparoscope. Video recordings of surgeries were reviewed for calculating the number of entries of surgical tools into the field of view, relative time of tools and ports viewed in surgical field and number of times camera was removed due to fog or smoke.

The usage of the SurroundScope resulted in a significantly lower number of entries to the field of view compared to the standard scope (58.50 versus 102; P < 0.0001). Usage of SurroundScope resulted in a significantly higher appearance ratio of tools, with a value of 1.87 compared to 1.63 for standard scope (P-value < 0.0001), and the appearance ratio of ports was also significantly higher, measuring 1.84 compared to 0.27 for the standard scope (P-value < 0.0001). In addition, the SurroundScope had to be removed and reinserted due to smoke or fog in only 2 cases (9.5%), compared to 12 cases (57.1%) in the standard scope group (P-value < 0.01).

The SurroundScope camera system improves surgical workflow in laparoscopic cholecystectomy. This conceivably increase the safety of the operation due to the utilization of the wide-angle view and "chip on the tip" technology.