S D Schwaitzberg, MD, M L Kochman, MN
Cambridge Health Alliance
Nearly 1 million minimally invasive cholecystectomies are performed in the United States yearly. While a number of techniques are described to perform this procedure, they are rarely compared in a prospective and randomized fashion. NOSCAR, the Natural Orifice Surgery Consortium for Assessment and Research created by SAGES and ASGE initiated a prospective randomized of natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) cholecystectomy versus conventional laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Originally patients were to be randomized to three groups: laparoscopic cholecystectomy ( LC), transvaginal NOTES cholecystectomy (TV) and transgastric NOTES cholecystectomy (TG) in a device agnostic prospectively. The latter group was closed for non-accrual.
83 patients were randomized in this study powered to evaluate non-inferiority between conventional and NOTES techniques. Intraoperative and postoperative events such as OR time, pain, complications, and cosmesis were recorded. Data, data , data . data
Transvaginal NOTES cholecystectomy was equally efficacious safe in terms of both procedure and access. Removal of the experimental label for transvaginal access and TV cholecystectomy is warranted.
Session: Podium Presentation
Program Number: S048