Second U.S. Center Utilizes USGI EndoSurgical Operating System

September 19, 2007 – USGI Medical Inc., makers of the EndoSurgical Operating System (EOS), recently announced that a second center enlisted its surgical platform to orally remove a patient’s gall bladder.
A three-member physician team from Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago became the nation’s second center to utilize the EOS to successfully perform Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) to remove a gall bladder through the patient’s mouth instead of through an abdominal incision.
"NOTES holds the potential to not only mitigate the pain and discomfort associated with traditional procedures, but may eventually reduce a patient's recovery time to as little as one day by eliminating incisions through the nerve-filled abdominal wall," said Nathaniel Soper, MD, the Northwestern Memorial surgeon who together with colleagues Eric Hungness, MD and John Martin, MD, performed the procedure. By eliminating incisions, NOTES may allow surgeons to carry out procedures with the patient under sedation, rather than general anesthesia and may help eliminate post-operative wound infections or hernias.
Martin, an Associate Professor of Medicine for the Feinberg School, explains that physicians have been conceptualizing natural orifice surgery for years, but most modern endoscopic tools did not offer a platform for it. By utilizing the EOS, which offers surgeons a stable operating platform, instruments can be manipulated to view, cut, grasp, and suture tissue without ever cutting into the skin which may be attractive to some patients as these procedures can eliminate all visible scars.
To date, laparoscopic ports in the abdomen have been utilized in conjunction with the EOS platform to safely assist in the development of the procedure. However, surgeons anticipate eventually eliminating laparoscopic support altogether.
"This evolutionary step towards an incisionless surgical technique could reduce costs, speed recovery and reduce pain," commented Hungness, Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Feinberg School. "I see incisionless approaches applying to a wide range of procedures in the future."
For more information: www.usgimedical.com