AUTHOR=Walshaw Josephine , Huo Bright , McClean Adam , Gajos Samantha , Kwan Jing Yi , Tomlinson James , Biyani Chandra Shekhar , Dimashki Safaa , Chetter Ian , Yiasemidou Marina TITLE=Innovation in gastrointestinal surgery: the evolution of minimally invasive surgery—a narrative review JOURNAL=Frontiers in Surgery VOLUME=10 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/surgery/articles/10.3389/fsurg.2023.1193486 DOI=10.3389/fsurg.2023.1193486 ISSN=2296-875X ABSTRACT=Background

Minimally invasive (MI) surgery has revolutionised surgery, becoming the standard of care in many countries around the globe. Observed benefits over traditional open surgery include reduced pain, shorter hospital stay, and decreased recovery time. Gastrointestinal surgery in particular was an early adaptor to both laparoscopic and robotic surgery. Within this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the evolution of minimally invasive gastrointestinal surgery and a critical outlook on the evidence surrounding its effectiveness and safety.

Methods

A literature review was conducted to identify relevant articles for the topic of this review. The literature search was performed using Medical Subject Heading terms on PubMed. The methodology for evidence synthesis was in line with the four steps for narrative reviews outlined in current literature. The key words used were minimally invasive, robotic, laparoscopic colorectal, colon, rectal surgery.

Conclusion

The introduction of minimally surgery has revolutionised patient care. Despite the evidence supporting this technique in gastrointestinal surgery, several controversies remain. Here we discuss some of them; the lack of high level evidence regarding the oncological outcomes of TaTME and lack of supporting evidence for robotic colorectalrectal surgery and upper GI surgery. These controversies open pathways for future research opportunities with RCTs focusing on comparing robotic to laparoscopic with different primary outcomes including ergonomics and surgeon comfort.